Pokemon: Legends of Hoenn (Alpha Sapphire)
by RebelWriter2.0
Summary: Sapphire Rockwell isn't interested in her father's new job as a gym leader, nor is she interested in staying in Hoenn. With her trusty partner Shade, she only has one goal: to get back to her hometown of Goldenrod City. But with an organization bent on controlling Hoenn, two brats accusing her of being a thief, and an entire region looking for her, getting home won't be easy.
1. Moving Day

**Chapter 1: Moving Day**

 **Welcome to my novelization of the game Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. Hoenn's my favorite region of all time, though Alola is a close second, and I am so looking forward to writing fanfics for all of the games (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire) as well as the ORAS demo and the Delta Episode. This fic does borrow a tiny bit of plot from the Ruby/Sapphire Adventure Mangas, but not too much.**

 **This story's featured OC is Sapphire "Alpha" Rockwell. No, she is not the same as the female character avatar, she is a unique character.**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon, sadly enough, does not belong to me.**

* * *

It's the big day! Come on! Get up! Time to get ready to leave!"

The girl angrily slammed her door shut, cutting off her mother's cheerful voice. She hated this! Why on earth did she have to move from Goldenrod City out to the boonies? And to make matters worse, it wasn't moving out to the boonies like her best friends Ethan, Kris, and Lyra did when the three of them went off to New Bark Town. No, she was being uprooted from her life and forced to go live in Littleroot Town, in the Hoenn Region of all places! Why on earth did she have to leave? She was thirteen years old, far older than most new trainers. Yet her mother had insisted that she stay at home, and not catch any new Pokémon. The only one she had was her trusted partner, a male Sneasel named Shade. Her mother had no idea that her often absent father had given her a Pokémon for her tenth birthday as Sapphire had kept Shade at the Pokemon Daycare that was just south of the city. The girl had been volunteering there for years since it provided a convenient excuse to visit her best friend. Besides, it was good experience for when Sapphire would leave home to start her Pokemon journey.

"Come on, Sapphire. You need to come and eat breakfast, and if I'm not mistaken, you wanted to go say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Gold before we left."

Sapphire rolled her deep blue eyes and began to pull on her everyday clothes, which consisted of a jewel blue tank top, ripped black jean shorts, and a black jacket. She pulled on her blue, black, and white sneakers, tying the laces in a triple knot. The teen then tied her hair back with a mottled blue, black, and gray bandanna, before picking up her necklace. It was her other gift from her father, a simple silver chain with a chunk of sapphire hanging from it. If one looked at it from the right angle, they would see the greek letter alpha suspended in the delicate crystal. It was the only piece of jewelry she wore. Anything else was too girly for her.

Sighing, she realized that she wouldn't be able to put this day off any longer. Resigning herself to her fate, the teenager forcefully opened her door and stormed down the steps. It took her longer than normal to reach the kitchen, but she didn't care. Sapphire didn't want to take the quicker route through the living room. She didn't want to see all the cardboard boxes that had her clothes, her sketchbooks, and all her guides on raising Pokemon. She didn't want to see all the reminders that soon the family would be leaving their house in Goldenrod city for good.

"Good morning, sweetie." Her mother said, attempting to be cheerful. Sapphire ignored her, and instead grabbed her breakfast. Silence descended on the kitchen as the girl ate. She then stood and walked out of the door. Her mother sighed. She knew that her daughter resented the coming move, but still was hoping that Sapphire would come to love Hoenn. Her dear husband, Norman, had already been there for a few months, and so far had nothing bad to say about it. In fact, he loved the place, and couldn't wait for his family to come and join him.

Sapphire was a lot less enthusiastic. She had instantly started giving both her parents the silent treatment, and instead started retreating even more and more to the Daycare that she volunteered at.

The woman sighed and went back to washing the breakfast dishes. She had to pack up the breakfast dishes and supervise Machoke Movers Inc as they loaded the boxes onto the moving truck, transport them to the Magnet Train, get on the train with her daughter, get off at Saffron City, transport everything to Vermillion City, hop on a boat to Slateport City, and load up a moving truck, and make the drive out to Littleroot Town. All before she went to bed tonight. Talk about hard work.

Now she just need to make sure that Sapphire came back before it was time to leave.

* * *

"I hate this!" Sapphire fumed as she stormed towards the Daycare, startling a few Ditto that were lazing about in the tall grass. "Why do I have to leave? Just because Pops got a new gig as a gym leader doesn't mean that I have to be uprooted and moved to Hoenn of all places! Well, I'm not going to play along with this little game. Not if I can help it."

She continued fuming all the way to the large wooden building. Even from this distance she could see the Pokémon playing in the enclosure, some battling each other, others eating their morning berries, and one pair of Sentret playing a game of tag.

Sapphire almost threw open the door to the Daycare. Instantly Shade dropped down from above the doorway, landing on his familiar perch on her shoulder. Sapphire smiled, feeling a little bit better. At least she would have her best friend by her side.

"Oh, Sapphire!" She looked up to see Mr. and Mrs. Gold standing in the doorway. "I was wondering if you were going to come before you left."

"I wouldn't leave Shade behind." Sapphire replied. "Thank you for the opportunity to work here."

"Thank you for helping us out. I hope you'll come back and visit us sometime in the future." Mr. Gold said. Mrs. Gold smiled.

"Yes, feel free to stop by anytime you're in the area." She added. "We enjoy having you around."

"Hey, do you think that I could just stay here?" Sapphire wondered.

"You know we can't do that." It was the answer she had been expecting, but it still came as a disappointment to the girl.

'Yeah, I know." She sighed. "I'd better get back to the house before my mother panics and calls the police. Can I have Shade's Pokeball, please?"

"Sure." Mrs. Gold said as she handed over the high-tech device. "Make sure you take good of him."

"I will." Sapphire sighed. "I better get going. "Don't do anything too strenuous."

With that, their final goodbyes were said, and then Sapphire was on her merry way. Neither of the Daycare couple questioned her sudden, abrupt exit. They were used to Sapphire and her ways. She hated saying goodbye.

* * *

Sapphire sighed as she walked towards Goldenrod City. She didn't want to leave, but she didn't have any choice. There was perhaps maybe one way that she could get back to her beloved Johto, although she knew that it was risky, and her parents would hate her.

Although right now, she hated them too, so at least the feeling would be mutual.

* * *

"Oh, I was wondering where you were." Her mother crushed her in a hug as soon as she stepped into the Magnet Train's station. Sapphire rolled her eyes, silently hoping that Shade was alright inside his Pokeball. The mischievous Dark and Ice-type hated being trapped in there. "Come on, hurry up! The train will be leaving soon, and you don't want to be left behind!"

"Actually, I do." Sapphire muttered to herself as she let her mom push her through the crowd, up the steps, through the ticket check, and onto the train, where she sat the pair down in an almost full car. Sapphire groaned. Even though the train ride was only about an hour, she didn't relish spending it with strangers that were trapped like Magikarps in a can.

Soon the announcement rang over the paging system, saying that they were about to depart for Saffron City in the Kanto Region, and thanking them for choosing to ride on the Magnet Train.

Then there was a slight lurch as the train began to move, levitating a full foot above the track. with nothing more than a quiet hum, it began to pick up speed, going faster and faster. Sapphire watched as it left Goldenrod City, the tall building shrinking as her home grew farther and farther away. She couldn't help but let one tiny tear slip out of her eye as the magnificent skyline vanished, and the view from the windows became a blur of trees and sky. There was no turning back now. It had begun.

She was on her way to Hoenn.

* * *

 **So, what do you think? Any comments, constructive criticisms, and compliments can be left in a review. Flames will be frozen solid by Shade's Icy Wind.**


	2. Littleroot Town

**Chapter 2: Littleroot Town**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

* * *

Sapphire groaned as the truck hit yet another bump in the road, another sure sign that they were in the middle of nowhere. The day had been a real whirlwind of activity; with the multiple truck rides, the high-speed boat rides, and the long trip from Slateport City to Littleroot Town. She had been drafted by her overzealous mother to ride in the moving van with all of the cardboard boxes. Thank goodness they were secured to the walls of the truck; otherwise she was sure that she would have been crushed by the mountains of boxes that surrounded her.

Sighing, she let Shade out of his Pokeball, the dark weasel appearing in a flash of light. Shade smirked before climbing onto a particularly large stack of boxes.

"Sneasel!" He said, relieved to be out of his Pokeball. Sapphire allowed a tiny smile to grace her face.

"I know we've only just arrived in Hoenn, but we're not staying here for long." Sapphire said. "I'm not going to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere in a region that's nothing more than a bunch of islands! Besides, I'm tired of my overbearing mother with her attachment issues. I should have left on a Pokémon journey a long time ago. I think we ought to leave home and go back to Johto. What do you say? You with me?"

"Sneasel! Snea, snea sneasel!" Shade nodded, a grin crawling across his face. Sapphire smiled, before the truck lurched to a stop. Her eyes widened in panic.

"Shade, return!" She whispered as she recalled her partner. Shade groaned but allowed himself to be sucked back into the red and white Pokeball. Sapphire quickly shrank the ball down to its smaller size and shoved it in her pocket. Not a moment too soon, either, because suddenly the door opened, revealing two Machoke. They waited for her to climb down out of the trailer, before they began to unload boxes.

"Thanks so much for volunteering to ride in the moving truck!" Her mother cheerfully said as she dragged her daughter into the house and up the stairs. Sapphire snorted. Volunteering? Her mother had told her to ride in the moving truck. There was no volunteering that had taken place.

"Anyway, I suppose that you ought to unpack your things, and set the clock in your room to the correct time. Oh, and your father left your birthday present on your desk. I'm going to go supervise the movers. I love you, sweetie."

"Yeah, love you too." Sapphire said, before muttering, "Nice of Pops to wait until nine months after my birthday before he actually bothered to give me something." The girl sighed and waited until her mother was out of her room before she shut the door and locked it. She then released Shade into her new room.

"Okay, so here's the plan." She said in a hushed voice. "I'm going to unpack my stuff so my mother doesn't suspect anything. But, I'm also going to pack a backpack with a few spare changes of clothes, all of my life savings, and enough food to last a week. We're going to hit the road, travel back to Slateport, and then hop on a boat back to Johto. We'll be back home in under a week!"

Shade nodded, before his attention was drawn by a box on the desk, covered in shiny silver paper. No surprise, as Sneasel generally were thieves. But it did remind her of something else that her mother had said, that her father had left a (very late) birthday gift for her on her desk. She assumed that that was what the package was.

"Might as well open it up." She muttered, reaching out to grab the package. She carefully pulled off the wrapping, folding it neatly and set it off to the side. If she was going to run away tonight, she could use it for kindling. She then opened the box, revealing a pair of running shoes, a letter, and a device in a packaging apparently called a Pokénav. She looked it over, and noted with interest that the device had a map of the region included on it. She figured that the shoes and the Pokénav would be useful, but she ignored her father's letter.

"Thanks a lot, Pops." She muttered as she put the running shoes by her bed and packed up the money, five changes of clothes, the Pokénav, and Shade's Pokéball in her black, gray, and sapphire blue backpack. They joined some berries and apricorns she had picked in the days before her departure from Johto. Now she just needed to sneak some food that night on her way out, and she'd be fine.

* * *

That night, she laid awake while her mother fell asleep. She knew that her mother wouldn't wake, as she was a heavy sleeper and was not easily roused. When she was certain that her mother would be unaware of her actions, she silently got up from her bed. She changed out of her pajamas and into a fresh set of clothes and the running shoes her father had gifted her, quickly scrawled a note for her mother, and left it on the desk next to the still unopened letter from the man who was a father in name alone. Carefully she slipped down the stairs and into the kitchen, mindful of her mother's snores that echoed through the house.

She ignored the fridge, and instead raided the pantry, pulling out non-perishables such as crackers, dried meats, dried berries, and nuts, made several peanut butter sandwiches, and filled up four bottles of water at the sink. Slipping all of them into her backpack, she found she had just enough room for the Pokéballs and potions she had covertly purchased in the days leading up to her departure from Goldenrod City.

It was a struggle to close the zipper, but close it she did. Then, without making a sound, she eased the door open and stealthily crept out of the house, closing and locking the door behind her. All this time her mother had yet to stir.

Sapphire quickly hiked across the road and ducked down an alley. It wasn't until her house was out of sight that she began to run, setting off at a brisk trot. Littleroot Town was by no means a large place, and within ten minutes of running she was at the start of Route 101. She smiled before calling out Shade, the dark weasel silently climbing up her shoulder. It understood the requirement of stealth at this point in time. His trainer smiled at him, before checking the map on her brand new Pokénav.

"Looks like it's going to take us about two to three days walking time to get to Odale Town." She whispered. "If we hurry, we can cover a good portion of it tonight. Let's go!"

The woods were eerie to be sure, yet the foreign girl and Pokémon paid it no mind. They had nothing to worry about in terms of wild Pokémon, as all of the local fauna were safely tucked away in their nests. The lonely duo was the only ones awake at this point, save the few Poochyena that were out.

"I guess this place isn't too bad." Sapphire muttered as trainer and Pokémon scaled a sheer cliff face. "I still like Johto better, though. And it's too quiet. I miss the big city."

"Sneasel!" Shade quickly scampered up the rest of the cliff, his claws easily finding purchase on the rocks. Minutes later, Sapphire pulled herself up over the edge. She looked back down at the ground that was now ten feet below her. If she jumped, she would break her neck. She'd have to be careful as she continued. Breaking her neck was not high on her priority list.

"I think we've put enough distance between my mother and ourselves." She announced to Shade. "Daybreak will be coming soon. Let's find a place to sleep."

* * *

All was silent in the large cavernous room. Three Pokemon were sleeping in their beds. One of them was a grassy green gecko, another a orangey red chick, and the third a blue mud fish Pokemon. They were, or course, Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip; the three Starter Pokemon that all young trainers got to choose between when they started their Pokemon journeys.

What the three weren't aware of, was the intruder in the lab. Dressed in dark blue, the group of three trainers was led by a tall woman of about 21 years, with flowing black hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin. She smirked as she saw the three Pokemon sleeping.

"You know the plan." She whispered. "Smash the Pokeballs and then capture them."

"Yes ma'am!" The two grunts replied before they began to stealthily sneak towards the Pokemon.

Mudkip's fin twitched. before the blue Pokemon lazily opened one eye.

He then yelped as he noticed that the unknown trio in the room. That yelp awakened his two companions, the young Pokemon startled to see that they weren't the only ones in the room. For a moment, the three Pokemon stared at the three humans.

Then Torchic and Treecko rushed forward, prepping peck and pound respectively. Both the grunts scattered, running throughout the lab as they tried to dodge the attacks. Mudkip was about to jump into the fray, when the leader walked toward the little blue Pokemon, a menacing grin on her face. Mudkip yelped again, all thoughts of fighting abandoned. The woman didn't attack the water type right away, however. Instead, she reached out and grabbed Mudkip's Pokeball.

Time stood still as the woman dropped it and crushed it beneath her feet, effectively releasing Mudkip against his will. The woman then grinned and pulled out another Pokeball, and the little blue Pokemon trembled.

"If you two buffoons are done fooling around with those Pokemon, we have a job to do." She sounded exasperated.

"Yes Miss Shelly!" The two echoed. Shelly, as the woman was now known, released a Mightyena into the room. Mudkip gasped as the Bite Pokemon dark wolf was certainly intimidating.

"Use bite!" Shelly ordered. Her Pokemon obeyed, springing forward to clamp its jaws down on the inexperienced Mudkip. The tiny blue water type cried out in pain before trying to retaliate with a tackle attack. However, despite its best efforts, the attack merely bounced off of the dark type. Mudkip was shocked, before crying out in pain when Mightyena angrily tossed it out the window. The blue Pokemon went sailing into the doors, its location now unknown.

Shelly angrily recalled her Mightyena, resolving to punish it later, before the doors to the lab flew open.

"What's going on?" Professor Birch demanded as he peered into the darkness. The good professor could only see blurry shapes, and he fumbled for the lightswitch. Shelly grimaced.

"Retreat!" She ordered before hopping out of the broken window, her two grunts following closely. They just made it, for at that moment the Professor turned the lights on. A blindingly bright radiance shown through the building, illuminating the scene in front of him.

Professor Birch looked around, taking in the senseless destruction of his equipment and the injuries that both Torchic and Treecko had sustained. There were shards of a Pokeball on the floor, and the sinking feeling in his stomach only grew as he realized that Mudkip was missing.

* * *

 **Was that chapter any good? You can let me know by leaving your compliments, comments, and constructive criticism in a review. Flames will be extinguished by Mudkip using Water Gun!**


	3. Route 101

**Chapter 3: Route 101**

 **Disclaimer: Sigh, alright, I get it, I don't own Pokémon. No need to rub it in.**

* * *

That next morning, Sapphire's mother, Rebecca Rockwell, woke up with a smile on her face. She was in Hoenn, the move finally done. She hoped her daughter had slept well. She knew that Sapphire had been unhappy about the move, but her mother was sure that soon enough Sapphire would fall in love with Hoenn.

Speaking of Sapphire, she needed to wake her daughter up. They had plenty of work to do to get the house into working order. So without a care in the world, she ascended the stairs, ready to start the first day in their new house.

She knocked on Sapphire's door, listening for any noise or movement in response. Hearing none she opened the door, noticing that Sapphire wasn't in her room. Maybe she was taking a shower? But there wasn't a tiny bit of noise, and the door to the bathroom was wide open.

"Sapphire, where are you?" Rebecca asked. No answer. Spying something on her daughter's desk, she walked into the room.

The first thing on the desk was the unopened letter from her husband. The second was a new piece of paper, a note scrawled on it in pen.

Mom, I'm leaving. Don't try and stop me; you can't catch me, and you can't change my mind. I hope you don't hate me too much, but if you do, know that the feeling's mutual. And tell that pathetic excuse of a father that I hate him too.

PS: Don't worry for my safety. I've got my Sneasel, Shade with me. That's right, I actually have a Pokemon, know how to win a battle with him, and have actually survived being on my own before. No thanks to you, you're way too overprotective.

PPSS: Goodbye forever!

By the time she had finished reading the note, Rebecca had fainted.

* * *

"Mom's probably found my note by now." Sapphire muttered as she and Shade hiked through the dense forest. "We need to pick up the pace."

"Snea, snea sneasel!" Shade agreed as the dark weasel scampered over another rock. It was about to continue when it suddenly stopped, looking into the underbrush. Sapphire frowned, also stilling in her motions. Something was coming, something that sounded very, very big. Trainer and Pokemon tensed, waiting for the arrival of whatever it was.

A few moments later, a Mudkip stumbled out of the bushes, collapsing on the ground. Sapphire gasped and hurried to its side, digging out one of her Potions from the bag.

"Shade, make sure no one comes near us." She ordered as she began to treat the blue Pokemon's wounds. Shade nodded before it adopted a defensive position, growling threats at the sky. Sapphire worked quickly, her mind racing. She had read a lot about Hoenn - not because she was interested in living here, but because she was planning to escape. One of the books she had read briefly mentioned starter Pokemon. She couldn't recall the names of the Grass and Fire type starters, but this one was obviously a Mudkip. She had learned two important things from that article; that she thought that the little blue Pokemon was ridiculously adorable, and that they were exceedingly rare in the wild.

The Mudkip had fallen asleep while she finished the treatment. She couldn't just leave it there alone, so she grabbed one of her Pokeballs. Touching the ball to the Pokemon caused it to disappear inside in a burst of red light. She felt the ball tremble slightly in her hands a few times before a mechanic click was heard. Sapphire shrugged before shrinking it down and putting it in her pocket. At least she wasn't stealing it from anybody. Her Pokeball wouldn't have worked if this Mudkip already had a trainer.

She resolved to wait for it to wake up before asking it if it wanted to go on her journey with her. She was sure that a Mudkip would be a useful partner, especially in Johto.

* * *

It was much later when Sapphire stopped for her lunch. As she and Shade ate, she called out her new friend. The little blue Pokemon appeared in a flash of white light, sleepily gazing at its surroundings. He jumped when Sapphire placed a few berries in front of it.

"C'mon, eat up." She said, trying smile kindly. "You need to keep your strength up if you want to get better."

Mudkip looked at her hesitantly. He was scared of this new girl, who reminded him so much of that woman named Shelly that had broken into his home the night before. But this girl was a lot younger, and had a kind but determined smile.

Plus she was feeding him. That was always a bonus. Mudkip tentatively took a bite of the yellow fruit in front of him, surprised to find that he liked the taste.

"My name's Sapphire." Sapphire said to the little Pokemon. "The Sneasel is my partner, Shade. We're traveling together. So, I take it you don't have a trainer?"

Mudkip shook his head before scarfing down the last berry. He then looked around for more, disappointed to find that there were none. Sapphire laughed, her smile shifting to an apologetic one.

"Sorry." She said. "That's all I have right now. You'll have to wait for supper."

Mudkip sighed before sitting down, regarding the human with a curious look.

"So, I kind of caught you-" Mudkip's jaw dropped, causing Sapphire to rush through to finish her sentence. "-but if you don't want to travel around with me, that's fine. I can release you right now."

Mudkip cocked its head to the side, studying the girl curiously. On one hand, this girl reminded him of that scary woman, Shelly. But on the other hand, he was supposed to be given to new a trainer and, as far as he could tell, she had to be pretty new - at least in Hoenn, anyway - for her to be this close to Littleroot Town.

And she had food with her. In Mudkip's book, a person that fed him was a wonderful person indeed.

That, more than anything else, helped cement his decision. The Mudkip nodded once, a bright smile on his face.

Sapphire returned the smile with one of her own. She was relieved and; if she was being honest; quite happy that she had a new friend.

"Alright then." She said. "You need a nickname. Hm…" She trailed off, lost in thought while Mudkip looked at her expectantly. "How about...Swampy?"

Mudkip, or Swampy as he was now known, grinned. He liked this name, and he was beginning to like the mysterious Sapphire that was traveling with a Sneasel and gave him food. Sapphire's smile grew a bit wider, before she stood up and held out her Pokeball.

"Okay then." She said. "Let's hit the road. Swampy, return!"

A red laser shot out of the ball and sucked Swampy back into the device. Sapphire grinned as she shrank the Pokeball down and put it in her pocket, resolving to buy a belt or wrist bands to store her Pokeball on when she reached Oldale Town. With that, she quickly picked up from lunch, called Shade to her side, and set off down the path. She still had a day's walk to Oldale Town. Hopefully nothing more eventful would happen.

* * *

 **I can't help it, I'm a sucker for Mudkips. Those Pokémon are too adorable for their own good, but I don't care, they're cute and if they were real I'd totally travel around with one. What do you guys think of the story so far? Let me know by leaving constructive criticism, compliments, and comments in a review. Flames will be put out by flocks of Pelippers using Brine.**


	4. VS Brendan and May

**Chapter 4: VS Brendan and May**

 **Disclaimer: I own copies of Pokémon games, Pokémon merchandise, stuffed Pokémon, Pokémon handbooks, copies of official Pokémon story books, Pokémon toys, Pokémon figurines, Pokémon games, Pokémon puzzles, Pokémon movies, Pokémon manga's, and about two thousand five hundred Pokémon cards, but I don't own the rights to Pokémon.**

* * *

The next day was uneventful, save for the small attacks by wild Pokemon. Shade was enough to fight them off, and Sapphire continued on her way, unhindered, until she came to a large clearing. It was the perfect place to stop for lunch, and she did want to train Swampy a bit.

As the three of them ate lunch - another peanut butter sandwich for her, a couple of raw Pidgey eggs for Shade, and some more Sitrus berries for Swampy - she told them the plan. They would remain here for the next hour or so. Shade would be free to do whatever he wanted, be it exploring the surrounding forest or battling the wild Pokemon, so long as he left his trainer and Swampy in peace and was back in an hour. Scarcely had she finished speaking when Shade nodded and had speedily disappeared into the surrounding trees.

Sapphire sighed, a small smile on her face, before turning her attention to the little water type.

"So." She said. "What attacks can you do?"

Swampy thought for a moment before growling. Although he tried to be ferocious, he came across as cute instead. Mudkips tended to have that effect. An amused smile briefly graced Sapphire's face before it vanished.

Swampy didn't notice his trainer's expression. He finished growling and then charge across the clearing, tackling a bush. Sapphire nodded once.

"So, Growl and Tackle." She said aloud. "Is that all the moves you know?"

Swampy nodded once, worried his trainer was disappointed with him. However, Sapphire was busy planning.

"Okay, so a strategy for battle." She suddenly said. "Would be for you to use Growl a few times to lower your opponent's defense and then use Tackle. Even if they do manage to hit you with a few attacks, as long as they're physical attacks the damage done by them will be reduced." She looked over at Swampy, who was watching her attentively. "Let's practice that, okay?"

Swampy nodded before growling at a nearby bush. Sapphire waited a few moments before ordering a Tackle attack. Swampy charged forward and tackled the bush, flattening the green plant to the ground. Sapphire grinned.

"Nice work." She complemented her new Pokemon. "Again!"

They remained that way for a long time, much longer than the hour she had allotted originally. She kind of lost track of time, spending hour after hour having Mudkip practice its two attacks. So far, nothing too interesting, until her latest order resulted in something a bit more powerful than a normal Tackle.

"Swampy! Use Tackle one last time!" She ordered. Swampy charged forward again, ready to tackle a very beaten down bush, when he twisted in midair and delivered a powerful slap to the ground, kicking up globs of mud.

Sapphire was surprised, to say the least. She watched in mute shock as the mud covered the bush, weighing down the leafy bows until the weaker ones snapped and the stronger ones rested on the ground. Swampy landed, a very pleased look on his face.

"You just used Mud Slap, right?" Sapphire asked. Her Pokemon smiled, pleased to have surprised his trainer.

"Mudkip!" he affirmed. Sapphire grinned.

"Good job!" She said, complimenting her friend on a job well done. Swampy grinned proudly at the praise he had received. The little Pokemon was glad that he had made his trainer happy.

"There you are, you thief!"

The moment was broken by a loud angry cry. Sapphire stiffened before turning around. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a boy and a girl, both looked to be about the age of ten. The boy was the one to angrily yell at her, while the girl had a silent but furious look on her face. Sapphire frowned.

"Look kids, I'm no thief." She said. "I'm merely-"

"Sure you aren't!" The boy interrupted her. "You only stole that Mudkip there from our father's lab! You good for nothing stinker! We had three new trainers supposed to be coming in today, and one of them was supposed to get that Mudkip! And now they won't, because you had to steal it! We're lucky enough that Dad had another trio to offer them! As it was, he's down a whole set, because he couldn't just give away the remaining two!"

"I don't know what lab you're talking about." Sapphire was struggling to stay calm, but this kid was really getting on her nerves. "I'm a traveling trainer who's only been in the area for two days. As for Swampy here, he was a wild Pokemon when I caught him."

Swampy, all this time, had been watching the interaction with interest, and a bit of apprehension. He recognized the two newcomers. Brendan and May Birch, the twin children of Professor Birch. He had come from the lab that the two lived at, and he could recall many long hours spent with them. They were most certainly here to take him back to the lab. And while when Shelly's Mightyena had tossed him out the window all of his thoughts had revolved around returning to the lab; now he found that he had grown rather attached to his new trainer, and was reluctant to leave her.

"Mudkip!"

Startled out of his thoughts, he became acutely aware that May had called him several times. Looking up, he noticed that Sapphire had stepped off to the side, looking into the trees, whistling a mournful tune. Unbeknownst to the others, it was one of the many signals she used to communicate with Shade, and as the bird Pokemon picked up the tune it would reach the loyal Dark and Ice type's ears. The Sneasel would come rushing back, ready to defend his trainer, partner, and friend.

"That girl says that if you want to come back with us, she won't stop you." May explained before holding out a hand. "C'mon, let's go back to the lab."

Swampy looked at the outstretched hand, then at Sapphire, then back at the outstretched hand once more. With a definitive air, he slapped the hand away with his tail before running over to Sapphire's side. The girl had stopped her whistling, and a relieved look crossed her face as her friend jumped into her arms.

"Seems like Swampy's chosen to stay with me." She noted before turning to walk away. "Well, we'd better get going. See you around."

"Not so fast!" She paused as a Pokeball was hurled in front of her, a green gecko released from it in a flash of white light. She turned around in time to see another Pokemon released, this time an orange chic. She glanced up calmly to meet her assailant's eyes.

"And just what is the meaning of this?" She asked.

"You've obviously done something to Mudkip." The boy snarled. "If he won't come back willingly, then the two of us will show him sense! Treecko! Use Pound!"

"Torchic! Peck!" The girl added. Sapphire filed away the names of Pokemon for further use as she jumped backwards, dodging the two attacks. Swampy lept out of her arms and landed on the ground, growling at the two Pokemon.

"You want to give it a go?" Sapphire asked. When Swampy nodded, she grinned. "Okay then. Use Mud Slap!"

Swampy charged forward, striking the ground with its tail to send a rain of mud down on his opponents. Treecko was lucky, and dodged most of them, but three or four decent sized chunks hit Torchic, knocking it back.

"Torchic! No!" The girl cried.

"May, Torchic is weak to Ground Type moves like Mud Slap." The boy reminded her. May frowned as her Pokemon shook the mud off, although the little Fire Type looked a bit unsteady on its feet.

"How was I supposed to know Mudkip knew that move, Brendan?" She whined. "Mudkip didn't know it when he was at the lab!"

"Regardless, you need to be more careful!" Brendan lectured her. "Why don't you recall Torchic? It's taken a lot of damage, and Treecko has a type advantage over Mudkip anyway."

A slight pout crossed May's face, but she listened to her brother and recalled her Pokemon. Now it was just a one on one match, a fair battle.

"Swampy! Use Growl!"

"Treecko! Pound attack, let's go!"

Swampy growled ferociously at Treecko as the gecko's tail began to glow. The Grass Type then charged its friend, lashing out with its tail. Swampy dodged some of the blows, but two or three connected. The first one sent Swampy staggering back a few steps, but by the time the third hit Swampy was barely fazed.

"Now, use Tackle!" Sapphire ordered. Mudkip was the one to charge forward now, catching Treecko off guard. The attack landed successfully, hitting Treecko in just the right spot to cause extra damage. The critical hit, combined with the damage from the earlier Mud Slap, was enough to cause Treecko to faint.

Brendan angrily recalled his fallen partner while Sapphire merely congratulated her Pokemon for the hard fought win. She then told it to get some rest, before returning it to her Pokeball.

"Next time be a bit wiser in the way you fight." She advised the furious duo before turning to go.

"Wait a second!" Brendan hollered while May tried to shush him. Sapphire ignored the boy, until she unexpectedly felt someone grab onto her from behind. Briefly she struggled, even as she heard Brendan yelling at her and May trying to pry her hot headed sibling off of her. But Sapphire ignored the angry words, and instead was searching the surrounding forest. There, in the trees, she could see Shade. Her partner was looking at her in equal parts worry and amusement. Sapphire rolled her eyes, a look that clearly said help flashing across her features.

Shade charged up an Ice Beam and hurled it at Brendan's feet, freezing them to the soil. The shock of the attack caused him to loosen his grip on Sapphire, and the girl slipped free.

Shade dropped down to the ground between his trainer and her assailants, a cocky yet amused grin on his face.

"Sneasel!" He taunted. Both May and Brendan stopped what they were doing, shocked by the appearance of the rare Pokemon.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?" Brendan asked aloud. He had never seen a Pokemon like that before, not in all of the texts on Pokemon native to the Hoenn Region that he had read. Sapphire didn't bother to answer.

"Nice work, Shade." She said before turning to vanish into the trees.

"Wait! You never even told us your name!" May said. Sapphire paused, contemplating the question, but didn't turn around. She couldn't tell them her real name; the minute that they went back to Littleroot Town her mother would find out where she was. So, what to tell them?

"It's Alpha." She finally said as she disappeared into the surrounding forest with Shade. "Do me a favor and remember it."

May and Brendan looked as each other before Brendan angrily pulled his feet out of the rapidly melting ice.

"I don't know about you." He said. "But tomorrow, I'm going to chase after her. I'm not going to let a thief get away with something as heinous as stealing a Pokemon. You with me, sis?"

"Yeah." May agreed. She would follow her hot headed brother, and not just because she also wanted to make Alpha pay for her crimes. She wanted a rematch, and next time she wasn't going to get humiliated. "I'm with you." Brendan grinned.

"We're coming for you, Alpha!" He hollered in the direction that the girl had vanished. in. "Just you wait!"

* * *

 **So, was that any good? Let me know by leaving some compliments, comments, and/or constructive criticism in a review! Swampy will put out any flames using Mud Slap.**


	5. Oldale Town

**Chapter 5: Oldale Town**

 **Disclaimer: No, no, no, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't own Pokemon!**

* * *

The next day dawned bright and clear as Sapphire woke from her slumber. According to the Pokenav, she and her team would reach Oldale Town by noon. That would give her plenty of time to stock up on supplies, get some food, train her Pokemon a little, and be on the next route. It was too dangerous for her to stay at the Pokemon Center right now, especially with her being so close to Littleroot Town. Briefly she wondered how her mother was doing, but then pushed those thoughts out of her head. She didn't care what her mother though or how she was doing. All she cared about was getting back to Goldenrod City.

The morning passed by without incident. She had a quick breakfast, trained a bit with her Pokemon, and resumed her trek to Oldale Town. The sun was high in the sky when she reached the crest of a particularly large hill. To her immense delight, she could see Oldale Town just a short distance away.

True to her earlier prediction, it wasn't long after noon when she finally stood at the town's gates. She didn't think it was possible to have a town smaller than Littleroot. Sure that place had been small, but this place was downright tiny! It only had four buildings, for Pete's sake! A Pokemon Center, a Pokemart, and two modest houses. What was up with this place, did everyone just sleep outside or something.

"Oh, a customer!"

She was pulled out of her thoughts when a middle aged man ran over to her. He was wearing a blue apron, and a rather flustered grin on his face. Before she knew what was happening, he had grabbed her by the arm and was literally dragging her over to the Pokemart!

"It's been ages since I've had a customer!" He babbled as he pulled her into the small shop and quickly got behind the counter. "So, what can I get for you?" He asked.

Sapphire blinked, before scanning the available merchandise. She was appalled to see such a low assortment; the place only sold Pokeballs, potions, Pokemon food - non organic - and paralyze heals.

"Um, I'll get a paralyze heal I guess." She said, not sure what else to get. Sure it was a tad bit expensive, but she didn't have any. And, to be honest, she felt a bit sorry for the man.

The bright grin that crossed his face only served to make her feel worse. Eagerly he set about counting out the correct amount of money from the wad of Pokedollars she handed him, and the giving her the change. He rang up the purchase in the cash register before grabbing a potion and a paralyze heal from the shelf.

"I only bought a paralyze heal." Sapphire protested.

"I know." The shopkeeper replied. "Consider the potion a gift from me to you for actually buying something! Have a nice day!"

"Thanks, you too." Sapphire replied as she stored the medicine in her bag and walked out of the shop. Her next stop was the Pokemon Center to heal her Pokemon, and maybe get a bite to eat.

As she was walking across the green grass to the Pokemon Center, she was stopped by a middle aged man in a delivery uniform.

"That was a nice of you to buy something." He said. "Rodriguez does that with every trainer who walks into town, but you're the first to buy something from him in months."

"I didn't do anything special." Sapphire replied as she brushed off the man's compliments.

"It is the smallest acts of kindness that can have lasting impacts." The man said before pulling out a Pokeball. "I work for Devon Corporation in Rustboro City. The president recently gave me this Beldum to hang onto until I found a worthy trainer to pass it on to. I think you'd do quite well in raising it, and you're certainly worthy in my eyes."

"Thanks, but this isn't really necessary." Sapphire said as she accepted the Pokeball. "I really didn't do anything outstanding."

"Yes, but I want you to have it anyway." The man replied with a smile. "Well, I must be going. I need to deliver these parts to Headquarters, and it's going to take me some time to get through Petalburg Woods. If you're ever in Rustboro City, feel free to stop in at the Devon Corporation."

With that, he walked away. Sapphire watched him go for a moment, before a growling stomach made her recall her destination. Slipping the Pokeball into her pocket, she headed towards the red roofed building.

* * *

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" Nurse Joy said as Sapphire walked into the building. "Can I help you."

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd be willing to do a quick check up on two of my Pokemon." Sapphire replied as she pulled out Swampy and Shade's Pokeballs. "And I was also wondering if there's a place around here where I could purchase a set of wristbands to store my Pokeballs on."

"Well, I can certainly heal your Pokemon for you." Nurse Joy cheerily explained as she grabbed the two Pokeballs off of the counter. "But I'm afraid that there isn't a place in town to buy anything like what you're describing. My best guess is that you would probably find something like that in Petalburg City."

"Okay, thanks." Sapphire sounded disappointed. "About how long will it take for you to heal my Pokemon?"

"Come back in about an hour and a half." Nurse Joy recommended after a moment's thought. "If you want, you could go do some training on Route 102. There's plenty of wild Pokemon there."

"I just might do that." Sapphire said after she thanked Nurse Joy and walked out of the building. She did want to train this new Beldum of hers. Sure Beldum could only learn Take Down, but it would be a nice wild card Pokemon to have. Her mind made up, she walked towards Route 102, a small smile on her face as she mentally began to plan out her training.

"Stop!"

The harsh cry caused her to freeze in place. Looking around, she was met with the sight of a portly man running towards her. He was wearing glasses that concealed his eyes, wore a white shirt and blue pants, and had a panicked look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sapphire wondered as she looked around. She could see nothing remarkable, nothing out of the ordinary. The man finally caught up to her, and paused, catching his breath.

"You see these?" He asked as he gestured to a set of human footprints on the ground.

"A set of footprints? Well whoop-de-do." Sapphire muttered. This was the wrong thing to say, because a very offended look crossed the man's face.

"This scientific discovery isn't something to be dismissed!" He said hotly. "I've discovered a new species of Pokemon! By recording data about this footprint and sketching it out, I'm sure I'll finally be acknowledged by the scientific community for my great contribution to history!" He paused, before looking over at Sapphire. If he was hoping for interest, the girl failed to deliver. A very bored look was on her face.

"Look, I'm not asking for much." He pleaded. "Just let me take some pictures, make a few sketches, collect data...that sort of thing. I promise it won't take long."

Sapphire groaned before walking away. Behind her she could hear the man calling out his thanks, but she ignored him. Instead she looked around the collection of buildings - for indeed, it was more a collection of buildings than a town - looking for another route to train on. She couldn't go back to Route 101, because Brendan and May were there. Route 102 was blocked off, at least until that lunatic was done sketching his human, sorry, _Pokemon_ footprint. That left Route 103 to the north. Her mind made up, she quickly hiked to the start of the path, half expecting to be stopped by yet another person in this town. None impeded her progress, however, and soon Oldale Town was concealed by trees.

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 **So, was that any good? Leave me a review to let me know what you think of this story! Flames will be put out by a Wingull using Water Gun!**


	6. The White Beldum

**Chapter 6: The White Beldum**

 **Well, I'm back with another chapter! And boy oh boy, I was not expecting the great response I've gotten so far. 109 people have read this already! That's crazy! An extra big thanks to YaBoiKurama for following this story! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

 **Verra2: Thank you so much for reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. It means the world to me that people like you are actually interested in this! I hope that this next chapter's just as enjoyable as the previous ones.**

 **Disclaimer: It's on fanfiction, people. I would think that it would be blatantly obvious that I don't own Pokémon.**

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As she stared up at the top of the cliffs high above her, Sapphire had only one thought running through her head.

"Why on earth did I think that this was such a good idea?" The trainer wondered as she searched for the steep path that supposedly led to the top, clambering onto tiny rock ledges as she hunted for the best route up the cliff face. "If I fall here, I might as well drag myself back to my mother instead of going to the hospital."

The black haired teen sighed and shook her head before reaching up to grasp the trunk of a tree growing out of one of the cliffs, shimmying up the wooden plant to observe the surrounding area. There, just a bit to her left, was the path, just a tiny bit flatter than the near vertical cliff faces that the girl had been crawling up. Returning to terra firma, the girl carefully made her way over to the start of the path.

"I suppose I should see what kind of Pokemon this Beldum is." Sapphire mused to herself as she began hiking up the path. Spying a little clearing surrounded by tall thick swatches of grass, the girl directed her footsteps towards the open area. Here she would be concealed somewhat from the prying eyes of trainers that would seek to challenge her to battles, and allow her to meet her newest partner in peace.

"Alright then, come on out!" With the time-honored cry that most Pokemon trainers used to call upon their partners, the girl threw the completely red Pokeball high into the air. The device split open, allowing a burst of white light to shoot out of it. The glow gradually resolved itself into a rather strange looking beast.

Beldum had the appearance of a single clawed arm growing directly out of a head. It was angular - even the sphere had edges and faces - with a single red eye that stared curiously at her. The body was a very light gray, so light that it could have been mistaken for the color of new-fallen snow.

"Beldum." They said. Yes, Beldums were often referred to as theys; for the species had no gender, and it was wrong to refer to intelligent creatures as its.

"Hi Beldum." Sapphire replied as the Pokemon floated around the clearing. "My name's Sapphire, but I occasionally go by Alpha. It's nice to meet you."

"Bel, beldum." The girl tilted her head to the side, studying her new friend curiously.

"So, I don't really know anything about you." She admitted. "Do you want to do a training session? You know, that way we can start formulating strategies?"

Beldum nodded once, as well as a floating head attached to a clawed arm could nod. Sapphire sighed in relief. In truth, the girl had half expected the Pokemon to ignore her. She was, after all, flying blind. Never before had the Johto native heard of a person just randomly giving a trainer a Pokemon and expecting nothing for it in return. It was one thing to trade Pokemon, it was another to just give one away. But Beldum seemed willing to listen to her, a rather good thing in her book.

"Okay then." Sapphire said. "Let's see what moves you know first, and then go from there.

* * *

Three hours later, when the duo finally finished their impromptu training session, Sapphire had discovered that Beldum knew Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, Iron Defense, and a move that acted similar to False Swipe called Hold Back. That would be especially useful since Sapphire had decided to catch more Pokemon. She was no fool, the girl had to realize that if her father came after her she would need Pokemon to help defend herself.

Sapphire was still very much set in her ways, which was a nice way of saying that she was stubborn. The girl was going to return to Johto if it killed her. But traveling with only three Pokemon was a bit risky, especially if she ran into May and Brendan again. By her best guess, Beldum was definitely a Steel type, and possibly a Psychic type as well since the Pokémon knew Zen Headbutt. Combined with Shade's Ice type and Swampy's Water type their Treecko and Torchic had advantages over all her Pokemon. If the two were properly trained, that could spell some serious trouble for the runaway.

So it was back to Oldale Town, where she stopped by the Pokemart to buy some Pokeballs to build up her supplies. Rodriguez had been ecstatic to see her, and she had left with ten more of the capturing devices and a Premier Ball as an added bonus. The trainer then picked up Shade and Swampy from the Pokemon Center, her other two teammates happy to see their friend. After that it was back to Route 103, where they were introduced to Beldum. Now the three were doing another training session.

It was getting late at night, but Sapphire dared not got back to town. In big cities where hundreds of trainers lived and passed through, a girl who called herself Alpha would not attract attention. Out here in the boonies, however, she stood out like a sore thumb.

Eventually they called it quits on their training session, and her Pokemon relaxed as their trainer began preparing the evening meal. A small fire was kindled, and soon the smell of roasting berries filled the air. It was a rather tempting smell, and soon the undergrowth began to rustle, thick clumps of tall grass parting to reveal a snarling Poochyena.

The little black wolf pup was rather small, probably the runt of a litter that had been cast out by its mother. The Dark type had to be rather tenacious to survive, and the Pokemon appeared to consider this part of Route 103 his territory for he wore a ferocious snarl on its face. He let out a ferocious howl before springing forward in a rather powerful charge.

Swampy ended up taking the full brunt of the Tackle attack. Shade responded by using Scratch, though the wild Pokemon nimbly evaded it. Swampy growled before running forward with his own Tackle, though it appeared to not be as powerful as normal. Shade moved to follow, but a word from his trainer held him back.

"Hold on, Shade." Sapphire said. "I was hoping to catch a new Pokemon, and this little fellow seems to be quite the fighter. Besides, we should let Beldum and Swampy get some more experience battling."

"Sneasel." Shade didn't sound happy, but he backed off.

"Alright. Swampy, use Growl again. Beldum, use Hold Back!"

Her Pokemon obeyed without hesitation. Swampy growled again, though the Poochyena drowned out the sound by howling once more. Sapphire's eyes narrowed as she watched the Poochyena's fangs begin to glow, flames abruptly breaking out as Beldum struck the Pokemon, being careful to not use their full strength.

The super effective Fire Fang clamped down around Beldum's claw, and the Steel Type cried out in pain. Swampy acted instinctively, and a quick Mud Slap forced the Poochyena to let Beldum go. The gray Pokemon retreated, flinching a bit from the pain of the flaming bite. Concerned, Sapphire checked for a burn but found none.

Swampy was still Tackling the young pup, but a word from Sapphire stopped him. Poocheyna seized his chance and landed a critical hit on the Water Type.

"Beldum, use Hold Back, quick!" Sapphire suddenly ordered. Beldum, by now having recovered from the earlier hit, shot forward, landing a solid blow in the pup's blindspot. This one had a noticeable effect, sending the target reeling. Thinking quickly, Sapphire lobbed a Pokeball at the Dark type, watching as the Pokemon was sucked into the device. It landed on the hard packed dirt, shaking slightly, before eventually the struggles ceased. There was a soft click, and Sapphire let out a breath she had subconsciously been holding in.

They had done it. Sapphire had caught her first Pokemon with the help of her teammates.

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 **Finished! So, was this chapter good? If it was, I highly encourage you to leave any comments, constructive criticisms, and compliments in a review! Flames will be frozen solid by Shade's Ice Beam!**


	7. Battle on Route 103

**Chapter 7: Battle on Route 103**

 **A big thanks to Puffleguy999 for following and favoriting this fanfic!**

 **YaBoiKurama: Thanks for taking the time to review the last chapter! I hope that you enjoy this next one.**

 **Disclaimer: Although I own a copy of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, I do not own the rights to Pokémon. Don't sue me!**

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The next day dawned bright and clear, the sun peeking out over the horizon by the time Sapphire was on her way back towards Oldale Town. Fearing that the events of the previous night's battles would attract unwanted attention, the girl had packed up camp after their dinner had been consumed, and had moved as far away from the clearing as she possibly could. Fortunately no other wild Pokemon had tried to challenge the trainer as she stealthily made her way to the very back of the route, hiding near a rushing river. Normally she would have let Swampy go swimming, but the current was fierce, and the little Water type wasn't strong enough to handle it. She had overheard some of the locals in town talking about the heavy rains causing the river to almost overflow its banks, but hadn't realized they meant the river that split this part of Hoenn in two.

That had come as a rather nasty surprise. Sapphire had been planning to swim across it to reach Route 110 after that crazy Pokémon collector had blocked off Route 102. It would put her extremely close to Slateport City, and she'd be home that much quicker. Now she was going to have to take the long way, and stay in this infernally hot and humid place for at least an extra week or two. To make matters worse, she'd have to go through Petalburg City now, meaning that the chances of her father finding her had just increased.

Like it or not, the girl couldn't do anything about it. And so with much reluctance the teen directed her footsteps towards the path that would lead her down the cliffs and back to Oldale Town. Hopefully the crazy lunatic would be finished sketching his human, ahem, _Pokemon_ footprint by now.

"Hah, looks like we found you!"

Sapphire allowed herself the luxury of a groan as she turned the corner to see May and Brendan resting by a pond of water.

"Give it up!" Brendan continued speaking. "We're not going to let Mudkip be used by the likes of a thief like you!"

"If I remember correctly, Mudkip chose to come with me." Sapphire replied cooly. "Now if you don't mind, I have places to be. Adios, kids. Do me a favor and quit stalking me."

"No way!" May was usually a timid, shy girl, but when faced with the callous dismissal of the girl she fully believed had stolen Mudkip, well, that ignited a rather righteous fury in her. "I'm not going to let anyone who thinks they can waltz into my father's lab and steal a Pokemon just walk away without a punishment."

"We're challenging you to a double battle!" Brendan snarled, reaching for a Pokeball on his belt. "And when we win, we're hauling you back to Littleroot Town to answer for your crimes."

"If you win." Sapphire corrected, grabbing two Pokeballs of her own out of her bag.

"Torchic, I need you!"

"Let's go Treecko!"

Her opponents released their Pokemon from their Pokeballs, the green gecko and red chick frowning as they recognized Alpha.

Alpha, for her part, shrugged. Sure, both of the two Pokemon appeared to be stronger than they had been back on Route 101, but these two brats weren't the only ones that had increased their strength.

"Swampy, Shadow, it's time to battle."

Swampy had a puzzled look on his face when he took in the angry faces of May and Brendan. Why didn't the two of them understand that he was happy with his trainer, and that she hadn't stolen him from the lab? It had been that mean old hag named Shelly who had done that. An apprehensive look was also cast towards his partner. Sure, the Mudkip knew that not all Mightyena and Poochyena were mean like Shelly's, but that didn't mean that he wasn't slightly scared of them.

Shadow, as the newest recruit to the team was called, also had an apprehensive look on his face, though this one was directed towards Sapphire. The girl had captured him last night, and though she had fed him and taken care of his wounds, and brushed his fur coat until all the mud had been removed, he still didn't quite trust this stranger. Nonetheless, she was a commanding leader of a pack of oddballs, and she had offered him a place in her pack. He may not have trusted her yet, but Shadow knew better than to disobey the leader of the pack.

"Shadow, Howl. Swampy, use Growl."

"Torchic, use Peck!"

"Treecko, use Absorb!"

The orders were shouted simultaneously, and the Pokemon moved to carry them out. Shadow howled to the sun, increasing his attack, while Swampy lowered that same stat for the two attackers. Treecko managed to nick him with the super effective Grass type attack, while Shadow darted out of the way of Torchic's continuous pecking. It stung, mildly, when the bird managed to jab his beak into the wolf's back leg, but thanks to Growl and Shadow's ability Intimidate it was a minor annoyance.

It was very much a pair of duels. On one side it was Treecko's pound versus Mudkip's Tackle, while on the other side it was Peck and Tackle that were duking it out. May and Brendan had done a good job of training their Pokemon, but Sapphire herself had also done a nice job.

For now the girl was content to watch, calling out orders occasionally, but granting her Pokemon the freedom to dodge whenever they wanted. That was one of the things they had worked on in their training. Sapphire had no wish to be a trainer that controlled every one of her Pokemon's movements. She wanted her partners to be able to be independent in battle, but at the same time listen to her occasional commands.

No doubt this frustrated Brendan and May. Since their opponent was not spouting orders like a leaky faucet, they had less time to react, less time to counter. Their partners were taking quite a beating, though Alpha's Pokemon were not unscathed. The fight was wearing down, and rather quickly. At such low levels and in such an intense fight, their Pokemon simply did not have the energy to battle for long periods of time.

Ten minutes wore on. Ten boring minutes of Tackles and Pecks, of Pounds and Absorbs, of Growls and Howls. Ten agonizingly slow minutes of Mud Slaps, Tail Whips, and Embers. Finally, though, Sapphire saw her moment.

"Switch opponents, now!"She suddenly barked. Swampy obeyed instantly, and after a moment's hesitation, Shadow did as well. Torchic chirped nervously as it realized that the black wolf pup she had been fighting was now gone, and in its place was Swampy. A Water type, one that was strong against her. Meanwhile, Treecko was frustrated as an Absorb that should have been enough to take out Swampy instead hit a rather annoyed looking Poochyena. Both Mudkip and Poochyena opened their mouths wide.

"Swampy, use Water Gun! Poochyena, hit Treecko with a Fire Fang!"

It was over when she called for those two attacks. As exhausted as the two other starters were, there was no way for them to fight back against two super effective attacks. Oh, they tried - Treecko managed to hit Shadow with a Pound that almost felled the Dark type, only for the pup's flaming teeth to clamp around his tail. Torchic tried to dart away, but Swampy adjusted his aim accordingly and nailed the bird in the back with a blast of water from five feet away. It wasn't particularly a long distance, but for the tiny Water type it was a pretty big accomplishment.

Treecko and Torchic were out cold before they sank to the dirt path. May and Brendan both had furious looks on their faces, not out of anger at their Pokemon, but out of anger because they had lost their chance to rescue Mudkip. The pair had no choice to recall their Pokémon, telling them to get a good rest and that they had fought well.

"I hope this proves to you that I am not some brat running around with a stolen Pokemon that has no idea how to battle." Alpha's voice was cold as she recalled her own team after whispering words of praise to the two fighters. "For the last time, I did not steal Swampy, he was a wild Pokemon when I caught him in one of the Pokeballs I purchased myself. I let you two ask him if he wanted to return to this lab you keep speaking of - a lab that I have no clue as to where it's located, by the way - and he chose to stay with me. Quit following me around and stop harassing me about being something that I'm not."

And with that she turned and recklessly hopped down a series of short ledges that crumbled under her weight. May and Brendan would have to take the long path down the Route, and they'd have to go slowly and carefully. After all, it would not be good for them to run into any wild Pokemon, especially since their only ones had just been defeated in battle.

* * *

 **Finished! Do you guys think that having both May and Brendan in this fanfic is a good idea? I mean, I'm not going to take either of them out, but I was just wondering what your opinions were on having two rivals instead of one. You can leave your answers, as well as any comments, compliments, or constructive criticisms in a review. Flames will be doused by Swampy using Water Gun.**


	8. Route 102

**Chapter 8: Route 102**

 **A big thanks to TheFreezerStreets for favoriting this fanfic and to Veraa2 for that rather enlightening review you PM'd me.**

 **So, I'm sick (yay me) and I know I won't be back in school tomorrow, so I can pretty much guarantee that there will be another chapter tomorrow. Depending on what happens there'll be new stuff on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Please keep in mind that this is a very unusual circumstance, and that most of the time this fanfic will be updated on weekends only.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything official!**

* * *

Sapphire did not stick around in Oldale Town for very long when she finally made it out of Route 103. She bought more potions from Rodriguez, nearly cleaning out his meager stores before running out of the dilapidated Pokemart as if a ghost was chasing her. With how close Brendan and May were, she dared not stop at the Pokemon Center, and instead healed her Pokemon with berries and potions before sprinting to the entrance of Route 102.

"Please tell me that you're done sketching that footprint." She gasped out as she literally ran into the collector. He had a dejected look on his face, and took a few precious moments before answering her desperate question.

"I thought I had discovered the footprint of a new species of Pokemon." He mumbled as Sapphire impatiently tapped her foot. "But it turns out I was sketching my own footprint."

"That's all fine and dandy, but I don't have time to sit here and listen to your melancholy problems." The girl snapped. Normally she was not this rude, but normally she wasn't this pressed for time. "Can I walk over them or not?"

"Go ahead."

Sapphire was gone before the man could even finish speaking, a black and blue blur that raced out of Oldale Town. The girl was not happy about her current options. There were three of them, and none of them were good. Option one was to return to Littleroot Town and her overbearing mother. She'd be punished for her little stunt in running away, most likely have her Pokemon taken away from her, and be forced to remain at home. No doubt her mother and father would be furious with her. Option two would be to hang around Oldale Town and let Brendan and May catch her and haul her off to this lab they kept on speaking about, which in turn would lead to her parents finding her. This also was not a good idea. The third option was to run down Route 102, into Petalburg City. That place was the stronghold of her father, and the last thing Sapphire wanted to do was to run straight into the lion's den. But out of her options, this one was the best one available to her. There was no guarantee that she'd see her father in the city, and as long as she avoided the gym those chances would decrease even further.

Was it an excellent plan? No, far from it. But in lieu of the circumstances it was the best that she could come up with.

Any other day she would have stopped to enjoy the sights. There were several tall trees, and Beautifly fluttered overhead. A small pond had a group of Lotad playing in it, though they scattered when the panicked girl ran by. Shade had popped out of his Pokeball and was perched on her shoulder, eyes trained on the road behind them to watch for any signs of pursuers.

"Hey you!"

The sounds of a voice caused Sapphire to skid to a halt. Up ahead of her in the middle of the road was a young boy, a backwards blue baseball cap sitting on his head. He introduced himself as Calvin, and demanded a battle from her. The youngster ignored Sapphire's panicked protests that she didn't have time for any battles, and instead sent out a Zigzagoon.

Sapphire rolled her eyes and sent out Beldum, choosing to let Shadow and Swampy rest a bit longer. Their injuries from the earlier double battle may have been healed, but they were still a bit worn out, and their trainer had no intent on running them ragged.

It was a rather pitiful battle. All it took were a pair of Iron Heads before Zigzagoon had fainted. Sapphire had hurriedly promised the kid a rematch at a later point in time when the kid demanded one, took the prize money she had won, and then ran off again, praying that the small five minute scuffle hadn't been enough to allow May and Brendan to catch her.

She decided to send Shade back to watch for the pair of siblings, and reluctantly the weasel left his friend for the trees, retracing their steps to take up a position by the pond. It was well that he did so, for he was just in time to see the Birch siblings enter Oldale Town's Pokemon Center. No doubt they were in there to have their partners looked after, and hopefully they would be in there for quite some time. Shade settled down to wait, deciding that he would run back to Sapphire once they left the red-roofed building.

Sapphire had to be extra cautious now. She was down a Pokemon, her most powerful one too. But the girl was confident in the strength of her other partners, and knew that it would be advantageous to know the movements of her pursuers. Now she just had to hope that nothing else slowed her down.

Of course, because Murphy's Law existed, anything that could have gone wrong did. Not one, not two, but three more trainers stood in her way as she continued running down the path. All of them wanted battles, and all of them would not be denied. They had little to no experience, which meant that Sapphire's team easily dealt with all of them. By the time she defeated the final one, it had only been four hours since she had left Oldale Town. In total, a Poochyena, one Wurmple, a single Taillow, and a pair of Zigzagoons had been defeated by the rather impressive combination of Swampy, Shadow, and Beldum.

Sapphire's sides ached, the muscles in her legs burned, and the continuous impacts with the ground had left her feet sore and tired. Each breath was painful, but the long run had left the girl quite winded, and so she continued to suck in greedy gulps of air. The girl had made excellent progress - as short as Route 102 was, most people took the better part of a day to traverse it. Then again, most people stopped, ate three meals, walked, searched for Pokemon, and otherwise took time to stop and smell the roses.

Sapphire hadn't. She had been running for her life. Her meals were hurried, and she did not dare to stop and rest. But the abuse she had put her body through was taking its toll, now that the adrenaline spike had faded. Begrudgingly the girl allowed herself a chance to rest, limping over to a pair of berry trees and harvesting the ripe Pecha and Oran berries that hung from the branches.

Glancing back down the road, she noticed a small ledge partially hidden by some tall grass, no more than ten feet away from where she had battled her last opponent, a young lass by the name of Tina. Sapphire carefully made her way over towards it, only to trip over a rock and go tumbling over the edge. The impact with the ground five feet below hurt, knocking the wind out of her lungs, but fortunately did not break her bone.

With a groan Sapphire sat up, noticing a potion on the ground. Unsure if it had fallen out of her bag in the tumble, the girl picked it up and stuck it in the pocket where she stored medicine.

This place was rather secluded, and well hidden. Sapphire tried to get up, but her legs threatened to give out. Recognizing that she wasn't going anywhere for a while, the girl crawled into the underbrush and curled up in a ball, concealed from view. It was late - the stars were starting to speckle the sky just over the rapidly fading sunset - and the trainer hadn't been planning on staying in the city anyway.

As she waited for sleep to claim her, a rustling in the trees caused her to tense. Moments later Shade dropped down next to his friend. The Pokemon had heard her fall with his acute hearing, and had managed to find her.

"Have they left yet?" Sapphire whispered.

"Sneasel." Shade shook his head. He had overheard Brendan and May discussing their next steps. From what it sounded like their Pokemon wouldn't have fully recovered from the battle earlier that day until quite late at night, and they had decided to just chase after Alpha in the morning.

Sapphire let out a sigh of relief. Though it troubled her that those two annoying kids were still bent on tracking her down and apprehending her for crimes she didn't commit, at least she had a good head start on them. She was safe, for now.

* * *

 **Finished! What do you think? I really don't want to spend a lot of time on most of the everyday trainer battles, and to be honest when I was playing through the game I had leveled up my Pokémon so much that I kind of just blew through this area.**

 **Any comments, constructive criticisms, and compliments can be left in a review. Shadow will be putting out any flames with Sand Attack.**


	9. Wally

**Chapter 9: Wally**

 **A big thanks to Cheshire Cat Queen of Hearts, shadowmwape, Chaos D ragnarock, Kirino Tsuki, and Verra2 for following, favoriting, and/or reviewing this fanfic.**

 **Disclaimer: Okie-dokie, I've gotta say this. Bear with me people, it's a formality at this point. I don't own the rights to Pokémon.**

* * *

As it turned out, Sapphire was even safer than she had thought. The fall had not broken any bones, but she had sprained something in one of her legs, most likely her ankle. When she had awoken the morning after her tumble it was red and swollen. Not wishing to make the injury worse, Sapphire had wrapped it up as best she could, and Shade had created ice packs for her to use.

With their trainer out of commission, the Pokemon had plenty of time to train. Shadow, though still a bit uncertain as to whether or not he should trust the human that had caught him, nonetheless ended up scouting Route 102, watching out for pursuers. The Poochyena was the natural choice, as he was the only Pokemon of the four that did not stick out in the area. He could have been any one of the many wild Poochyena that inhabited the path through the wooded area between Oldale Town and Petalburg City. It was Shadow that watched May and Brendan traverse the well traveled path, unknowingly passing the very girl they sought to pursue, and it was Shadow that brought news he had learned from the wild packs that roamed the region home to his own pack every night.

The Pokemon also trained with each other, perfecting their attacks. Sapphire too kept busy, thinking of strategies to implement with her friends. But still the days dragged by. By the third day Sapphire was able to move her ankle with little to no pain, by the fourth she was upright, and on the sixth when their supplies were about to run out she limped into Petalburg, collapsing in a room she had rented at the Pokemon Center after handing her Pokemon over to Nurse Joy to be taken care of.

The kind lady had come by to check on her later, and had rewrapped her ankle so that it was better stabilized, while at the same time nagging the teenager about walking into town on the injured foot. Nonetheless she had informed Sapphire - who had given her name as Alpha - that she should be able to walk on it in a few days.

Those few days - by now Sapphire was getting rather antsy being this close to where her father had his gym - dragged by. The runaway remained in her room, only ducking out for meals at odd hours when she knew her father would not be up and about. The girl knew his disciplined schedule like the back of her hand, and thus made sure to leave the safety of her room only when he was busy training. Norman was a man of many habits, and one of them was to train in solitude with only his Pokemon for two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and two hours in the evening. Sapphire ran her errands then. She bought more supplies using her money, though she was careful to only buy the bare minimum and not make frivolous purchases. Though she had saved up a lot of her money in the months leading up to the move to the Hoenn region, the girl did not wish to run out when she needed it the most. The only thing she splurged on were a pair of wristbands to store her Pokeballs on, and even that was a somewhat necessary item. It would not do to have her Pokemon in her bag if she ran into a problem and needed them by her side in an instant.

Walking was still painful for the girl, but Sapphire did not want to stick around in Petalburg City any longer than she had to. That night she was planning on slipping out of the city and cutting through Petalburg Forest. From there she would go to Rustboro City, hike over a mountain range, and get to Verdanturf Town. After that it was just a short trip to Mauville City, and then a hop a skip and a jump on down to Slateport. She'd be home soon.

* * *

The girl had gone for a walk during one of her father's evening training sessions when someone bumped into her. She stumbled slightly, a bit annoyed at what had happened.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The culprit turned out to be a small, frail boy dressed in warm clothing, warmer than what could possibly be comfortable for the climate. He had a shock of green hair that matched his sad looking green eyes, and a raspy cough shook his thin body. Despite the fact that he had bumped into her, Sapphire couldn't feel mad at him.

"It's alright." She replied in a somewhat gruff tone. "Mind telling me where you're going that has you in such a hurry...um…?"

"I'm Wally." The boy still had an apologetic look on his face. "I was going to go see if Mr. Norman would give me a Pokemon. You see, I'm moving away soon to a town that I've never been to before, and I'm kind of scared. I was hoping that having a Pokemon might help."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Wally, but the gym leader's busy training." Wally's shoulders slumped at the news. "But I'll tell you what. I'm not busy at the moment, so I'll help you catch a Pokemon."

"Really?" Sapphire nodded as she led the boy to Route 102, handing him a few empty Pokeballs. Pausing, the girl let out a piercing whistle. Moments later the trees began to rustle, and Shade dropped down out of the branches. Sapphire had let the Pokemon go for a walk, knowing that being cooped up in his Pokeball all day was maddening for the dark weasel. Once they got out of the general area of Petalburg there would not be a need to conceal the Sneasel as much, but this close to the city there was a rather substantial risk that Norman would recognize the Pokemon he had caught for his daughter.

"This little fella's a Pokemon called Sneasel." Sapphire explained to the awestruck Wally. "His name's Shade. Shade was my first partner, but you can borrow him for now. Okay?"

"O-okay." Wally smiled at Shade, who shrugged and clambered up onto Sapphire's shoulder. The Pokemon trusted his trainer, and knew that if she was comfortable around Wally, then he was obviously trustworthy.

Sapphire gave the boy a quick lesson on Sneasel's attacks and demonstrated a small scuffle between the Dark type and Beldum, before it was time to begin. The teen knew that she was taking a risk staying out past her father's normal training times, but she had promised Wally to help him and did not wish to let the child down. The group hunted for Pokemon for a while, the girl growing steadily anxious as the time flew by, until finally a pair of Ralts burst out of the underbrush. Apparently they had startled the Psychic and Fairy types, for they let out a pair of Growls.

"Alright then." Sapphire said as she called out Shadow. "Why don't you battle the one on the left, Wally?"

"Um, right!" Shade hopped down in front of the boy and gave a glance back at his temporary trainer. "Shade use, um, use Scratch!"

"Sneasel!" Shade darted forward to rake its claws across the Ralt's back. The little Pokemon let out a soft cry and used another Growl.

"Again!" Shade obeyed, effortlessly landing another hit. Wally felt a grin crawling onto his face. His very first Pokemon battle! The adrenaline coursing through his veins, the thrill of seeing two Pokemon give it their all as they collided in a battle of wills. It was exciting. Perhaps his new friend would enjoy battling as well.

"Be carefully, Wally." Sapphire's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "These Ralts aren't that powerful yet, and you don't want to faint them. I'd use your Pokeball soon."

So saying this she lobbed one of the spheres at the Ralts her Poochyena had been battling, the flare of white light surrounding the Pokemon and drawing it into the ball. It wiggled a few times as it rolled around on the ground before clicking softly, the Pokemon inside giving up the fight.

"Go Pokeball!" Wally called out as he mirrored the girl's earlier actions. Ralts let out a soft cry as it too met with the same fate as its friend, being trapped in the Pokeball. The Pokemon struggled valiantly, almost breaking free, but had been worn out too much from the battle. The ball remained sealed, and soon the capture was completed.

"I..I did it!" Wally cheered happily as he picked up the Pokeball. "I caught a Pokemon!"

"That's great, kid." Despite the late hour, the girl couldn't help but feel happy for the boy. "Come on, it's probably past nine at this point. I would imagine your parents would be worried about you. We should head back."

* * *

 **Finished! So, what do you think? Leave any comments, constructive criticisms, and compliments in a review for me! Flames shall be eradicated by Kyogre's ability Drizzle!**


	10. The Next Step

**Chapter 10: The Next Step**

 **A big thanks to AuraFighter23, Miraak Darklight, and Something dictionary related for following this fanfic, and a huge thanks to Verra2 for PM'ing me another review.**

 **TheSignOfLibra: First off, thanks so much for the review. Don't worry, I'll be sure to make sure Sapphire's not a perfect little overpowered always the winner Mary Sue. That'd be a nightmare. It's a bit hard for me to have her lose now, since there hasn't been any real memorable characters for her to fight other than May and Brendan, but I promise that she'll find out that getting through Hoenn's not going to be a cake walk really soon. (Like, within the next three to five chapters soon) That unbalanced team is really going to come back to haunt her. As for reviewing your story, I'll try to get to it as soon as I can, but so far I've missed two straight weeks of school, and since I've been sick I haven't been able to get all my Christmas gifts completed. So with homework and the holidays I won't be able to do it right away, but sometime next week if I have a free moment I'll review it.**

 **Disclaimer: I own a stuffed Charmander, Espeon, Chimchar, and a very beaten up handmade stuffed Rayquaza that I sewed when I was seven, but I don't own the rights to Pokémon.**

* * *

"You have no idea how much this means to us." Wally's father said to the girl that stood on his doorstep. Here he had been, worrying about the whereabouts of his rather sickly son, and had just been about to go to the police when there had come a knock on his door. To his great shock and amusement, it had been his son and a tall imposing girl that had called herself Alpha. But they were not alone, for Wally held a Ralts carefully in his arms.

After fussing over his son and the newest addition to the family, the man who had been named Eddy had sent the young pair off to bed. Once the boy and his Pokemon had vanished up the stairs and into his room, the proud father had asked his son's other companion what had happened.

Alpha had been rather quiet, stating that the boy had expressed an interest in catching a Pokemon, and that she had helped him accomplish that. She had then excused herself for the night, saying that she wished to leave Petalburg City the next day, before vanishing into the night.

The girl had been hoping to get back to the Pokemon Center for some rest, but her newest addition to the team popped out of her Pokeball. The Ralts, whom she had nicknamed Dancer, had a panicked look on her face.

"Dancer, wait!" She cried out as the Pokemon began running back towards Route 102. Her foot screamed in protest, but Sapphire had no choice. Limping as fast as she could, the girl went after her Pokemon.

She found Dancer in the same spot where she had caught the Psychic and Fairy type, the little Pokemon standing in front of a flattened down area of tall grass. To Sapphire's immense shock there was another Ralts there, one that was blue and orange rather than green and red. A shiny Ralts, quite the rare find.

"Ra…" Dancer cried sadly. The shiny Ralts winced and lifted their head, exposing a rather nasty wound on its temple. It looked infected, and quite painful. The poor thing probably had been attacked by a Poochyena.

"Hey there fella." Sapphire said as she knelt down next to the two Pokemon. The two must have been siblings; why else would Dancer have run off to find him. "I'm going to take you some place where you can get help. Don't freak out, okay?"

The shiny Pokemon gazed at the rough looking girl for a moment, before over at his sister. He would just have to have faith that this stranger wouldn't harm him. Nonetheless the young child tensed slightly as Sapphire carefully picked him up and began heading back towards the bright city lights, Dancer at her heels.

* * *

Nurse Joy had been rather surprised when the girl that had called herself Alpha limped into the Pokemon Center at eleven o'clock at night, a Ralts on her shoulder and a shiny one held in her arms. The girl quickly explained that she had found it out on Route 102 and that it needed medical attention immediately. Nurse Joy had quickly whisked the pair of Ralts away, along with Sapphire's other Pokemon. The girl herself limped to her room, only having the energy to pull off her bag and shoes before falling into bed.

Before she could sleep, however, she had to treat her ankle. The swollen portion of her leg had increased in size, was an angry red in color, and was rather tender. Sapphire flinched as she lightly touched it, knowing that she had pushed herself too much that night. The girl made a quick poultice out of some herbs she had bought and applied it to the wound to help with the pain and the swelling before tightly binding the injury. After that she flopped backwards onto the mattress, her head landing on the pillow. Before she could wrap the blankets around her, she was out like a light.

The trainer was up bright and early the next morning, taking advantage of the Pokemon Center's showers to rinse off the dirt and dust that had accumulated while traveling this far. Sapphire treated her ankle, which was looking a lot better now that the medicine had started to work, swallowed two tablets of some over the counter pain medicine, and got dressed. Leaving the room she had borrowed as neat as she had found it, the teenager went down to the lobby of the building.

Her Pokemon had been taken care off, even the shiny Ralts, though the wound had scarred over. Sapphire had, after much deliberation, asked the young Pokemon if he wanted to join her team, and he had accepted. Sapphire had nicknamed him Sword, and the little Psychic type was currently sitting next to his sister, chowing down on a piece of fruit.

Their morning meal was hurried, and soon all six Pokemon were back in their Pokeballs. According to what Sapphire remembered of her father's schedule, the man would be training right now. If she was going to leave town, now would be the time to do it.

The only road that led to Route 104 took her straight past the gym. Despite the apparent danger, Sapphire could not help but peek in through the windows. She could see her father in a slightly darkened room, sitting in the proper seiza style. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be meditating.

Much to the girl's horror, as if he could sense her gaze, he opened his eyes and lifted his head. His daughter jerked her head out of view, but knew that he had seen her.

There weren't any other present options available to the girl at the moment. Scrambling up onto one of the rather large rocks that were part of the gardens that decorated the front of the gym, the girl clambered up onto the roof, pulling her body away from the edge. Her ankle was complaining at the sudden abrupt movement, but Sapphire dared not cry out. She flattened herself as much as humanly possible, all in an attempt to not be spotted.

It was good that she did so, for the doors to the gym opened up and her father walked out. Norman had a scowl on his face, one that only seemed to grow deeper and more pronounced as he scanned the immediate area for his daughter. Logically he knew that he had seen the fugitive, but the girl seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Sapphire was lucky that he didn't consider the roof of the gym to be a viable hiding spot. Five tense moments passed before Norman eventually gave up and returned to the gym, the door sliding shut behind him. The girl let out a sigh of relief before carefully shimmying to the edge of the roof on the side of the building. Checking to make sure that there were no windows where she was located, she carefully lowered herself as far down as she could before letting go of the roof and landing in the brush. She crawled through the tall grass and into the trees, waiting for the gym to be out of sight before standing.

The girl doubled over and let out a pain-filled moan as her ankle protested for being forced to bear her weight. But now that her father had seen her, Sapphire could not risk staying in town. Spying a thick fallen tree branch on the ground, she picked it up and fashioned it into a makeshift crutch. It wasn't ideal, but it would do in a pinch.

"Shade, let's go." Sapphire whispered as she called out her trusted partner. The Sneasel appeared in a small flash of light, though he remained on the ground. He could tell that his trainer was in a lot of pain, and that it would not be a good idea to ride on her shoulder like he normally did.

"Sneasel." He said before climbing up into the trees, acting as another set of eyes for his injured trainer. Sapphire bit back a groan as she took her next step. It was going to be a long trip to Rustboro.

* * *

 **Oh boy, that was a close one! So, what do you think? Leave any compliments, comments, or constructive criticisms in a review! Flames will be put out by a Ludicolo using Rain Dance.**


	11. Route 104

**Chapter 11: Route 104**

 **Wowee, another chapter! I'm on a roll here. Just a heads up, though, I have a ton of homework due to being out of school for two weeks straight (I have 9 things for English alone!) and because of that and the fact that Christmas is in 3 days and I am so not ready for it, I might not be able to update this fanfic for a few days. I'll try to do daily or near daily updates in the week after Christmas, but I make no guarantees as to whether or not that'll happen. Sorry guys!**

 **According to my alert emails from Gmail, I don't have any new followers or favorites. Oh well, it's not the end of the world. Honestly, I'm surprised I've gotten this good of a response for this story in such a short amount of time. I do, however, have a review!**

 **Miraak Darklight: Thanks for the review, buddy! Is the story strange? Not that I care, I'm a strange girl. (I mean, I could have collected coins, or stones, but I collect paint chips if you can believe it) Yeah, Sapphire sure is a rebel, isn't she? That's okay, punks make for really good protagonists. As for May and Brendan, I prefer to say that they are foolish misguided brats. Since I'm actually doing seven different Hoenn fanfics for the Pokémon Legends series I'm working on, I wanted to make them unique in this fanfic instead of them just being generically nice. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official! Don't sue me, that'd be a really rotten Christmas present.**

* * *

Due to her injuries, Sapphire had only been able to make it to the entrance of the woods before being forced to take a break. Ahead of her loomed the thick forest known as Petalburg Woods, a place crawling with Bug type Pokemon. She was at a distinct disadvantage here in this environment, since all but one of her Pokemon were weak to Bug Types. Shade probably wouldn't have much trouble here due to the fact that he was still quite a bit stronger than any of her other Pokemon, and Shadow knew a Fire type move that he could use to fight back. Beldum should be okay since their Steel type attributes would help them resist any super effective moves, but both Dancer and Sword only knew Growl. They'd be sitting ducks. Swampy didn't have anything to fear from the bugs, but Grass types were another story.

It would be tough making it through this area already, and Sapphire hadn't even factored in her injuries and limited supplies. All in all she was looking at spending a few days in this forest before traversing the rest of Route 104 to get to the next city.

Ideally she'd need another Pokemon that was strong against both Grass and Bug types to help her deal with all the Wurmples, Silcoons, Cascoons, and Shroomishes that occupied the area. A Flying type would be ideal, but catching yet another partner posed a problem. Sapphire already had six Pokemon in her active team, meaning that she could not legally add another one until she placed one of the ones already with her in the Pokemon storage system. Sword was still quite weak from his wounds, and Sapphire did not wish to put him through several rigorous battles.

"So now what do I do?" Sapphire groaned. "I can't go back to Petalburg, my old man knows I'm in the area because I was careless. Going through Petalburg Woods is too risky with an unbalanced team like mine, and one of my partners is too weak to battle right now. If that cut hadn't been infected that would be a different story, but the last thing I need is for Sword to open up the wound and reinfect it. That could be downright deadly, and I'm not going to risk his life."

Sapphire knew that if she had a Pokedex then she wouldn't have this kind of problem. All Pokedexes had the capability to transfer captured Pokemon to a trainer's personal account on the Pokemon Storage System. It was a one-way transfer, trainers couldn't just swap their party members out in the middle of nowhere. But right now it would have been useful to send Sword back to safety.

Then again, the girl could not be the only person out there who had wanted to catch a Pokemon out in the wild but already had six of their partners on them. There had to be a way for her to initiate the one way transfer. Perhaps it could be found on her PokeNav Plus? It had a WiFi signal, and after some messing around on it the girl discovered that there were four separate apps on it. AreaNav provided a detailed region map, while DexNav was a program that allowed trainers to scan the area for a Pokemon. BuzzNav gave access to various talk shows, radio programs, and tv specials. But it was the last one, PlayNav, that provided the answer. It had Pokemon Amie and Super Training on it, which Sapphire assumed were apps to help Pokemon trainers raise their partners. But it was the last feature, the Trainer Support System, that piqued her interest. Digging around in it for a few moments revealed an option that was simply labeled Pokemon Transfer. Without hesitation, Sapphire selected it.

"Please choose a Pokeball to transfer, and scan it with the PokeNav." A pleasant female voice instructed. So, it appeared that the girl had selected the correct function.

"Sword, come on out!" In a flash of light and a flurry of sparkles, the shiny Ralts appeared. He still had a bandage wrapped around his head, though there was no red stain marring its surface. Good, it appeared that the wound hadn't opened up yet.

"Listen buddy. You're a really tough Pokemon, and I appreciate how strong you are."Sapphire explained as the Ralts listened closely. "But I don't want to risk taking you into Petalburg Woods right now, not with that nasty cut on your head. The locals said that a lot of the Pokemon in there can cause status conditions, and right now your health is rather delicate. I'm going to send your Pokeball to the Storage System for a few days. By the time that I reach Rustboro that injury should've healed up nicely, and then I'll add you back on to my team for a bit, okay?"

"Ralts…" Sword sounded sad. He wanted to go on an adventure, but he saw the wisdom in his trainer's words. His mother had told him to be cautious of entering the forest to the west, where Bug types were common and could pose a grave danger to him and his sister. In his weakened state he could easily be severely hurt, even more severely than when the Poochyena had attacked him for entering their territory. Sword did not like having to remain behind, even though he knew his trainer wouldn't abandon him. But he knew that it was the only good choice available to him.

"Hey, don't worry." Sensing his sorrow, Sapphire carefully picked the tiny Pokemon up. "You and your sister and I will be a great team, especially in double battles. But if you were to get hurt because I placed you in danger, well, I'd never forgive myself. It's only for a few days, and then you and I will go on our own little adventure together for a night, just the two of us. Okay?"

"Ralts." This seemed to perk Sword up a bit, and he nodded excitedly. Sapphire smiled before recalling the tiny dual type into his Pokeball. Restarting the Pokemon Transfer program, she held the red and white ball in front of the scanner. There was a beeping sound as it registered the presence of the Pokeball, and then a white bolt of light shot out of the PokeNav Plus, enveloping Sword's Pokeball and pulling it into the device.

"Transfer has been successfully completed." The device announce a moment later, signifying that Sword had arrived safely. Sapphire smiled in relief, a tinge of sadness in her eyes, before sighing. She knew that this was the best choice for the Pokemon, but she certainly would miss him.

"Well, I can't afford to dwell on this forever." She eventually said as she let out a piercing whistle, summoning Shade to her side. "Let's see what kind of Pokemon are hiding out here on this Route."

* * *

 **Okay, I admit it, this chapter's more of a filler than anything else. But it's important for a few reasons.**

 **1) It establishes that Sapphire can capture more than 6 Pokémon, setting up what I like to call a rotating team. That is to say she isn't always going to have Swampy, Shade, Shadow, Sword, Dancer, and Beldum on her team at all times. Probably what'll end up happening is that she'll have two or three Pokémon that almost exclusively stay with her, and then she'll swap the other ones out at different times depending on what the situation calls for.**

 **2) It will indirectly help balance Sapphire's team. Right now one good Bug type master could totally flatten her, since all of her Pokémon aside from Swampy have at least one type that is weak to the Bug type. (Shade and Shadow are both Dark types, while the Ralts and Beldum are all part Psychic type). So since she can have more than six Pokémon, it'll balance out those type weaknesses.**

 **3) This part of Route 104 is tiny. There's not a lot to do in it, and I didn't want to cram Petalburg Woods and the first half of Route 104 into one really long chapter.**

 **Either way, it is what it is. I promise next chapter will have some action in it, and you'll meet Sapphire's newest friend too! As always, thanks for reading! If you have any comments, compliments, or constructive criticisms you can either PM me or leave them in a review. Flames will be utterly doused by a Gyrados using Hydro Pump.**


	12. Showdown in Petalburg Woods

**Chapter 12: Showdown in Petalburg Woods**

 **And we are back with another chapter! First things first, however, thanks to Verra2 for PMing another review and Chocolate Shaymin for following this fanfic!**

 **Just out of curiosity, what Pokémon do you like from Hoenn? Leave that answer in a review!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything official!**

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Sunlight filtered down through the trees as the girl made her way through Petalburg Woods, washing the area in a green glow. Here and there flashes of blue sky were visible, but all in all the open air was concealed. It was like being in a living room, one that constantly grew and changed. It would have been a rather pleasant place to spend some time in. That is, if it weren't for all the bugs.

"Alright Wind, use Peck!"

"Tailow!" The blue bird that was Sapphire's newest partner cawed loudly and began pecking at the Wurmple again. The Bug type used String Shot, but it wasn't enough to deter Wind, and eventually the fuschia caterpillar retreated back into the underbrush.

Sapphire sighed in relief and sank down onto the ground near a large rock that was covered with a thick furry coat of moss. Wind chirped and flew over to land on her outstretched hand.

"Nice work, Wind." The girl complimented her partner. Birds couldn't really smile, but Wind's beak certainly had a small smirk on it. He knew that his trainer was happy.

Sapphire had caught Wind out on Route 104, having seen the blue bird soaring on the sea breeze. He was a happy-go-lucky guy with a mischievous streak, a reprieve from most of the serious, shy, and timid Pokemon that were currently on her team. Wind hadn't been that easy to catch, and had entertained himself for several hours by dodging both attacks and Pokeballs, his beak held open as if he were laughing at the girl. Eventually, though, Shade had managed to land an Icy Wind on him, freezing his wings and slowing the bird down enough to enable Sapphire to catch him.

Wind currently had been fighting rather hard to get through the woods, with Sapphire sending out Shade and Shadow occasionally to give the bird a break. She had also trained Dancer a bit, and now the delicate female Ralts knew Confusion and had almost perfected Double Team. At the very least the youngest member of the team would be able to defend herself.

It was slow going through the forest, and Sapphire found herself having to stop and rest more often than she wanted to. Shade had been a big help, creating delicate ice packs that still allowed the girl to walk but numbed the swollen area, helping to block out some of the pain. The girl had to be careful not to end up giving herself frostbite, but as long as she didn't leave the packs on for too long she'd be okay.

"How many bugs are in this forest?" Sapphire muttered to herself as Wind took out a Silcoon. She had debated catching a few of the Bug type Pokemon that lived here, had toyed with the idea of catching a Shroomish, but ultimately figured that her team was pretty good right now, as unbalanced as it was. Catching a Seedot would have been nice, but so far Sapphire hadn't seen any of them.

Thankfully there were clear paths that had been cut through the trees, though this came with the added risk of other trainers. It was good experience for her team, though. By her estimates all of her Pokemon, with the exceptions of Dancer and Shade, were around level 10. Dancer was a bit behind at level 7, while Shade was probably about level 14.

Sapphire kept an anxious eye on the path, watching the forest that surrounded them. At any moment she expected her father to come crashing through the trees, ready to haul her back to Littleroot Town. The girl would rather die before being forced to go back there.

It wasn't just her father or May and Brendan that the girl was worried about, nor was she fully convinced that it was the wild Pokemon that were making her so nervous. Something was making her tense up, her hair stand on end and forcing the girl to subconsciously keep a hand on one of her Pokeballs. It wasn't just her; Shade was tense as well.

"Sneasel." He growled. Sapphire frowned, looking around. The woods were especially thick here, and there weren't any other trainers this deep into the forest. Perhaps she had taken a wrong turn somewhere? That would explain the lack of life around here.

"Easy, Shade." The girl murmured.

"H-help!" The cry split the air, and Sapphire jumped a little. Shade was snarling now, and it was clear that this cry was related to his agitated state. Sapphire had two options. She could pretend that nothing had happened, and that she hadn't heard the cry and simply continued on her way. But was that really an option?

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to regret this?" Sapphire murmured before shaking her head. Against her better judgement, she started hiking down the path, hobbling as quickly as her injured leg would let her.

Rounding the bend, she was surprised to see the kind Devon Corp employee that had given her Beldum back in Oldale Town. He was backed up against a fallen tree, quivering in fear. In front of him were two bizarrely dressed trainers. They looked almost like pirates. It was actually a bit hysterical, seeing them so far away from the ocean. Sapphire, however, wasn't laughing.

"Help!" The employee yelped. "I'm being robbed."

"Quiet down." One of the pirates, the male one, snapped.

"No one's going to save you all the way out here." The girl added. If this little event had been part of a play, that line would have been Sapphire's cue to step in.

"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded, drawing the attention of the three people in the clearing. The Devon Corp employee obviously recognized her, but his two assailants didn't.

"What's a little brat doing out here?" The girl wondered. The man shrugged.

"How should I know?" He replied. "There's no need for you to soil your hands, Captain. If you get the parts, I'll handle this small fry."

With that he tossed a Pokeball into the air, releasing a Poochyena. Sapphire observed it for a moment, before shrugging.

"Alright Shade, you can have some fun with this guy." She decided, and the weasel sprung from her shoulder to stand in front of his trainer. Now, Shade was by no means a snake, but the way he was hissing at the other Pokemon would have made a Seviper proud.

"You'll be sorry you ever messed with Team Aqua, punk!" The Aqua Grunt declared. "Poochyena, use Sand Attack."

"Shade, dodge it with a Quick Attack!" Sneasel sprang from the ground at a speed that was barely possible to follow with the naked eye. Poochyena kicked up sand from the ground, aiming to get it into the Dark and Ice type's eyes, but Shade darted up to the trees to avoid it. Leaping from branch to branch, he suddenly dropped down, ready to slam into the Poochyena.

Cleverly, the wolf pup kicked up more sand, hitting the mark this time. Shade winced as the tiny grains of sand made his eyes water, the stinging pain quite distracting. The Poochyena jumped out of the way of the attack, though Shade still managed to nick it's back leg.

"Now, use Tackle while it's distracted!" The Grunt's Poochyena moved to obey his trainer's order. Shade leapt backwards, but with the sand in his eye could not accurately tell where his feet were. He landed in a heap, and moments later the Poochyena had slammed into him.

"Sneasel." Shade grunted. Sapphire frowned as the Poochyena kicked up more sand, reducing Shade's eyesight even further. Now what was she going to do?

"Shade, use Icy Wind, now." She suddenly commanded. Sneasel nodded once before expelling a freezing blast of air from his mouth. Poochyena dodged it with no trouble, and it instead froze the ground. Now that was something she could use.

"Again!" She called for the same attack over and over, the process repeating itself until the clearing was almost frozen over. It wouldn't last long, not in this environment, but the important thing was that the immediate area was frozen. The Poochyena would have a difficult time using Sand Attack now, and more importantly the slippery ground would make it hard for the Dark type to dodge her attacks. That should even the playing field a little bit. Shade's accuracy was almost nonexistent at this point, but the Poochyena had little to no decent footing, and should slide around a lot. Perfect.

With its short, stubby, barely visible claws the Poochyena certainly was having a hard time navigating the ice. Shade, on the other hand, could have been an ice skater. Sapphire smirked. Her Pokemon may not have been able to see that well, but was much more suited to this environment than the Poochyena.

Nonetheless, with Shade's reduced accuracy it took a while for the weasel to fell the wolf. Shade had managed to dodge many of the Dark type's attacks, but several landed direct hits. Sapphire was forced to resort to using Faint Attack, knowing that it was one of those moves that always hit its mark provided nothing interfered with it, such as Protect or Detect. As it was not very effective against the Bite Pokemon, the battle stretched on for almost fifteen minutes before Shade managed to land the last hit. Poochyena toppled over, and the Grunt angrily recalled it.

Shade wasn't in good shape. By Sapphire's estimates, he had lost about two thirds of his strength, and was dangerously close to passing out. The female grunt sighed.

"You can't do anything right, Eduardo." She snapped as she tried to rip a briefcase out of the lone Employee's hands. "Get over here and try and convince this foolish man to give up the parts he's taking to the Devon Corp."

"Y-yes ma'am." Eduardo scurried over to the employee and began trying to rip a briefcase out of his hands. He was struggling fiercely, and Sapphire wished to help him, but she had her own problems.

"Who're you, brat?" The Grunt spar out.

"The name's Alpha. Got it memorized?" Sapphire replied cooly.

"No." The Grunt retorted,an angry leer on her face. "I'm Taryn. I know you'll remember it because I'm going to hand you a crushing defeat."

"You can try all you want." Sapphire gestured for Shade to return to her side, and the Sneasel did so reluctantly. "But you haven't won yet."

Both trainers reached for their Pokeballs. Another battle was about to begin.

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 **Cue the scary music! We have out first look at Team Aqua, and another OC! Aqua Captain Taryn is a third Aqua Admin, another way for me to make this story a bit more unique. And Sapphire's team is a bit stronger and more balanced now that she has a Flying type to deal with the Bug, Grass, and Fighting types that are super effective against the majority of her team.**

 **So, what do you think? Leave any comments, questions, constructive criticisms, and compliments in a review!**


	13. VS Team Aqua Captain Taryn (part 1)

**Chapter 13: VS Aqua Captain Taryn (part 1)**

 **Oh goodie. This fanfic's been up for just over a week and already there have been almost 1000 views! That's incredible! Thanks so much everyone! And an extra big thank you goes out to AgitadedDog9288, Solar Stife (sorry for accidentally missing you a few chapters back), and FROSTDRAGON4875 for following and/or favoriting this fanfic! And as always a big thanks to Veraa2 for PMing me another review!**

 **Miraak Darklight: Yep, Taryn's not going to be a pushover like the grunt. In fact, I have a feeling that whether this battle is a win, lose, or draw it's going to serve as a pretty big wakeup call for Sapphire.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

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No words were spoken as both teams released their Pokemon. Sapphire almost groaned when she saw the purple and green moth that flitted throughout the air in front of Taryn. A Dustox. Great, more bugs. And her team was so weak against them, too. It seemed that she could not catch a break.

Sapphire had chosen to use her Taillow, and Wind cawed loudly as he saw the moth. Inwardly the girl smirked. If this girl was anything like her companion, this should be a piece of cake.

"Dustox, use Tackle."

"Quick Wind! Dodge and use Peck!"

With a mighty flap of his wings Wind slipped by the Tackle attack, his beak starting to glow as he prepared to land a vicious Peck. Dustox dodged it with a flip, coming up right behind Wind.

"Now, use Poison Powder!" Taryn ordered. Dustox smirked, shifting the kind of powdery scales that were falling off of her wings. Normally these fine dusty scales were harmless, just naturally shed from the Pokemon's wings. But the Poison Moth Pokemon could alter it to contain a deadly toxin.

Sapphire was taken by surprise, expecting the Pokemon to release some kind of powdery purple cloud from her mouth. That was, after all, what the other Pokemon that she had seen use the move did. Instead the Dustox only flew over Wind, flapping her wings mightily. The powdery scales were so fine that the girl didn't see them. Foolishly she thought that it had failed to use the attack, and opened her mouth to order another Peck. But the effect of the scales was instantaneous, and she found the words frozen in her throat as the sneaky attack came to fruition.

Wind chirped weakly, a strangled sound escaping from his throat as the toxic substance coated his body, quickly unleashing their mayhem. Sapphire paled as jagged purple energy began to swirl around her faithful Taillow, wrecking internal havoc on his body. He was weakened quite severely, and his breaths became unstable.

"Now, use Tackle. I want that bird gone." Taryn's voice was cold, cruel even. Wind was still suffering from the poison that was slowly leeching his strength away. If Sapphire had any Antidotes, or Pecha Berries she would have used them, but alas she had already had to use them all.

"Wind, you have to dodge it!" Sapphire cried, feeling a bit helpless seeing her Pokemon in pain. Wind nodded, and would have grit his teeth had he had any. When Dustox came swooping in he darted underneath it, just barely making it in time. Another caw split the air as the poison drained more of his health and strength away. Taryn smirked.

"Dustox, Confusion." She ordered. Dustox smirked and her eyes began to glow blue. That blue glow moved to surround Taillow, and quickly overwhelmed his defenses. With such a weak attack as Confusion, all Dustox could do was slam Wind into a tree. Always the fighter to the end, Sapphire's prank-loving bird flew back into the air, ready to continue the fight. The deadly purple energy surrounded him once more, draining his strength completely. Wind let out a weak cry before his wings folded and he dropped to the ground like a stone. He had fainted.

Sapphire was calm on the outside as she recalled the bird, but on the inside she was mentally freaking out. Despite having a type advantage, Wind had been unable to land a single attack. She may have been a little over her head. Okay, a lot over her head, but who cared? At this point the battle was on.

At least she had learned that Dustox knew Confusion, Tackle, and Poison Powder. So far no Bug type moves. With this in mind she selected her next Pokemon, releasing Shadow onto the field.

"Use Howl." She ordered. The ferocious snarling Howl that Shadow emitted might have intimidated the Dustox a bit, but the moth hid it well. Taryn called for a Poison Powder again, and soon Shadow had inhaled those fine scales that started to wreak havoc on his health and strength. He hadn't been coated in them like Wind had - Sapphire's order to dodge had come swift enough for him to almost evade the attack - but even the small amount that managed to get into the pup had been enough to inflict the status condition on him.

But this time Sapphire had carefully watched the moth, and saw the fine scales that had spelled doom to her trusty Taillow. So this was how Dustox carried out this particular attack. Useful information.

"Get in there with a Tackle." Taryn ordered. Sapphire smirked. That was her mistake.

"Wait until it gets close, and then stop it with a Fire Fang." Shadow shook off the effects of the poison as best he could, his mouth starting to heat up as flames erupted along his fangs. Dustox darted in with a Tackle that landed on his back, but before she could get out of range Shadow managed to clamp down on the tip of one of her wings. The flames licked hungrily against the delicate scales, and the moth screeched in pain.

Despite the fact that it was not only super effective and powered up due to the use of Howl, it did not manage to faint the Dustox. Then again, Sapphire would have been a fool to believe that the annoying Poison Moth Pokemon would be able to be taken down in one hit. It was obviously at a high level, much higher than her own Pokemon. It would take a lot to defeat Taryn.

To her immense shock, however, the Team Aqua Captain called back her Dustox, no doubt feeling threatened by Shadow's ability to use Fire Fang. Sapphire observed that she had two other Pokeballs on her belt as Taryn switched Dustox out for one of the other ones. At least the scrappy trainer had numbers on her side.

That brief flare of hope vanished as Taryn tossed the Pokeball into the air, releasing the Pokemon held inside. It was a Makuhita, and the sand colored Pokemon had a nasty leer on his face. Shadow backed up a few steps before shaking his head, wincing as the poison sapped more of his strength. By Sapphire's side, Shade let out another hiss.

Judging from their reactions, Sapphire assumed that this new Pokemon was a Fighting type, and a momentary flare of panic rose inside of her. Her assumptions were proved to be correct as Taryn ordered her Pokemon to use Arm Thrust. Makuhita obeyed, charging forward with his hands held high. He was on the slow side, but Taryn didn't keep him around for his speed. As slow as he was, Makuhita was a tank. His HP and Attack stats were quite high, and with some proper training his Defenses could be boosted as well.

Due to his inherent speediness Shadow managed to dodge the furious Fighting type for a while, steadily growing exhausted as his strength and stamina were drained away by Dustox's poisons. Eventually he slowed down enough that Makuhita managed to catch up. Knowing that her Pokemon was going to faint, and frustrated that she could do nothing to prevent it, Sapphire ordered a Fire Fang. Makuhita didn't even flinch, as his ability Thick Fat cut the damage in half. He thrusted his arms forward, landing blow after blow on the weakened Shadow, who let out a pained whimper after the third strike and crumpled to the ground.

Sapphire had burned through almost half of her team by this point, and was quite frustrated. Not only was she growing frustrated, however, but she was also starting to grow scared. Three of her Pokemon had fainted, and yet she had failed to take out one of Taryn's partners. Granted, Dustox was pretty much on her last gasp, but still. This wasn't going well, not at all.

Her next choice was obvious. She wasn't going to send out Shade - pitting the Dark and Ice type against a Fighting type like Makuhita would have been suicide. Swampy she wanted to save for Dustox, as a single Water Gun should be enough to faint it, and Dancer was still young. She'd only call upon the Ralts as a last resort. Her choice was obvious.

If the Devon Corp Employee hadn't recognized her before, he certainly did now as the white Beldum was called to the field. It was a risky move, but Beldum's Psychic type attributes should cancel out the Steel type's weakness to the Fighting type.

"Now that's a rare Pokemon you've got there." Taryn raised an eyebrow at the sight of a Beldum, and a shiny one at that. Sapphire didn't honor that with a response, instead ordering Beldum to use Zen Headbutt, a notion that Taryn scoffed at. Didn't this little girl know that Beldum could only learn Take Down?

To her immense shock - perhaps the first time Taryn had been shocked during this battle - Beldum rushed forward,as they charged up the headbutt laced with psychic energy. They were quick, but not quick enough for them to avoid the Fake Out that Taryn had hastily called for. Makuhita struck before Beldum, and the shiny Pokemon flinched.

"Quick, use Whirlwind!" Taryn cried, for a moment letting her panic bleed into her voice. Sapphire smirked, happy to know that her Beldum had gotten underneath the girl's skin. Makuhita, understandably a bit rattled, created a strong gust of wind. Beldum was forced back, and as Sapphire watched a red glow shot out of the girl's Pokeball. Beldum was recalled back, despite the fact that she hadn't called for them to return. Before she could process this, however, Swampy's Pokeball automatically opened up, and the Water type was dragged out onto the field.

"Perfect." Taryn had a nasty leer on her face as she recalled her Makuhita. "Beautifly, let's go."

This Pokemon was a butterfly, much as Dustox was a moth. Beautifly looked a bit more delicate, more, well, beautiful. Nonetheless she had a nasty look on her face, a look that did not match her graceful appearance. Sapphire tensed slightly, a frown on her face. This one easily looked as tough as Dustox. It seemed that this battle wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.

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 **And done. So, what do you guys think of Taryn and her team? Taryn's style of battling involves playing around with status conditions - hence why she has Poison Powder, Stun Spore, and Fake Out among her moves - and then letting the opponent exhaust themselves before she swoops in for the kill. Currently her team is around level 15, so she's a lot stronger than Sapphire. But our scrappy heroine's got some surprises of her own. So, who do you think will win? I'm curious to see your guesses.**

 **I may not be able to update tomorrow or Monday, due to Christmas related activities (my extended family comes over on the 26th), so if I can't, I just want to wish all of my wonderful readers a very happy holiday, regardless of whichever one you celebrate.**

 **Leave any and all comments, inquiries, compliments, or constructive criticisms in a review! Flames shall be blown out by Taryn ordering her Makuhita to use Whirlwind.**


	14. VS Teamp Aqua Captain Taryn (part 2)

**Chapter 14: VS Team Aqua Captain Taryn (Part 2)**

 **I'm back, people! First of all, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Festivus, or Happy whatever holiday you celebrate!**

 **A big thanks to Ignore for following and favoriting and reviewing this fanfic! And a very big thanks to all of you wonderful readers whom have viewed this story over 1,000 times!**

 **TheSignOfLibra: Yes, I promise that sometime this week I'll get to reading the fanfic. It won't be tomorrow - my family's coming over to celebrate, and knowing them they'll be here all day long - but sometime between this week Tuesday and next week Monday I'll review it. I totally agree with the notion of traveling companions making things interesting, and I appreciate your suggested character but I think I'm going to pass on giving Sapphire a human traveling. It's not that I have anything against the character bio you submitted, it's just that she's on the run from her parents and May and Brendan, so she wants to avoid humans as much as possible. That's why she doesn't spend a lot of time in cities. Plus she's a major loner, so she's not going to just suddenly agree to having another person follow her around the region. I might write Brook in as like a recurring trainer, perhaps as one that's on her gym challenge and matches wits with Sapphire a few times as a result of them running into each other occasionally. So I think Brook'll be in here, just not as a permanent travelling partner. Is that okay?**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

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"Start things off with a Stun Spore." Taryn commanded. Beautifly nodded before expelling a glittering cloud of yellow powder, flapping her wings hard to send it sailing towards Swampy.

"I don't think so! Swampy, use Water Gun!"

Swampy could have been a sniper the way he managed to nail Beautifly right in the face with his Water Gun. The blast of water also managed to coat the majority of the spores in enough moisture to cause them to harmlessly fall to the ground, the paralytic substance on them dissolving and then being washed away. It was easy for Swampy to dodge the rest of them. Undeterred, however, Beautifly repeated the move, and then used Gust to disperse the spores all over the battlefield. Swampy had nowhere to run, and soon felt a tingly numbness creeping into his limbs. The paralysis wasn't too bad at first, but as he opened his mouth to use another Water Gun - Sapphire knew that using Tackle against a flying opponent would be a bad idea - his jaw suddenly locked in place.

"Go on, fight it Swampy! I know you can do it!" Sapphire desperately called, hoping that her words would be enough to snap her Pokemon out of it. Taryn laughed.

"Sorry kid, but your words can't do anything to help him." She declared. "Beautifly, use Absorb while that Mudkip is immobile."

As Sapphire watched in horror, Beautifly zipped over to hover right above her faithful friend. A green glow surrounded the butterfly, and moments later tendrils of that same energy drifted down to sink into Swampy. The little Mudkip cried out in pain as the super effective Grass type move drained his energy away, replenishing Beautifly's health.

"Swampy, I know you can fight it!" Sapphire shouted. "Use Water Gun!"

"Get out of there and use Gust to finish it off!" Taryn ordered, no doubt feeling a bit threatened at the Pokemon's accuracy. Swampy was quite weak to begin with, and the wicked winds that Beautifly managed to whip up were quite powerful. They assaulted the little Water type, who shook off the paralysis long enough to open his mouth wide. Swampy would have made a sniper proud with his shot, which was unable to be deterred by the Gust. The force of the winds blew the Pokemon away, fainting him. However, the shot he managed to snap off soaked Beautifly, forcing it to put a greater effort into flying. Torrent had activated as well, causing Swampy's last attack to deal extra damage. Beautifly was on her last gasp.

Sapphire sent out Shade next, planning on having the Pokemon use Icy Wind to take out the Bug and Flying type. Sadly, Taryn recalled the soaking wet butterfly into her Pokeball, pulling it away from danger. Curiously enough, the Aqua Captain didn't send out Makuhita just yet, perhaps thinking that since Shade was so weak Dustox would be able to beat it.

Taryn called for another Poison Powder - she certainly did enjoy playing with status conditions - but by now Sapphire had gotten the hang of dodging the deadly scales. Shade's Icy Wind attack made quick work of both the poisonous substance and Dustox, forming delicate little snowflakes from the powdery scales and freezing the Moth over. Had she managed to withstand the hit the ice on her wings would have slowed her considerably, but this powerful attack, compounded with her previous injuries, was enough to faint her. Taryn had officially lost her first Pokemon.

The Aqua Captain had a stunned look on her face as she called her fallen partner back, before frowning and sending out Makuhita. Sapphire almost called Shade back, but a snarl from the weasel drew her attention. Shade, despite the fact that Makuhita was strong against it, had a nasty snarl on his face. He wanted revenge for his fallen partners. The Dark and Ice type was fully aware that he could not win against the Fighting type, but he sure was going to dish out some serious damage before he fainted.

Respecting her first Pokemon's wishes was perhaps a foolish move, but Sapphire cast her lots with Shade, ordering an Icy Wind. Makuhita's thick fatty layer would reduce the damage, but some of that was cancelled out by the fact that Sneasel, being an Ice type, received a small boost of power for his Ice type moves. More importantly, not only would Icy Wind slow and already extremely slow Pokemon, it would allow Shade to remain at a distance from the Fighting type. Sapphire was confident in her Pokemon's abilities to get out of Makuhita's range in mere moments.

That assumption was correct, as the slowed down Makuhita had trouble getting close to Shade. The bitter cold winds didn't do nearly as much damage as Sapphire wanted, but every little bit counted. Sapphire knew that eventually Shade would tire, and with the earlier struggle he had been a part of he reached his limit rather quickly. Soon Makuhita was within striking distance, and though the weasel cleverly deflected part of the Arm Thrust that Taryn called for using Scratch the super effective move fainted him.

Not wishing to expose Shade to the elements in his weakened condition, Sapphire chose to return him to his Pokeball. Taryn, too, switched out for Beautifly, even as her opponent sent out Beldum.

"Stun Spore again!"

"Iron Head!"

Beldum rushed forward, their head becoming harder than iron, ready to slam into the weakened Beautifly. As fast as they were the Steel and Psychic Type managed to hit first, But Beautifly struggled to the end, and even as her last bit of strength faded away she managed to launch the powdery yellow substance that quickly coated Beldum. The poor Pokemon looked as if they had been coated in dandelion pollen, but this substance locked his muscles up in the same way that Swampy's had.

"Quick, use Iron Defense!" Sapphire called, and thankfully Beldum managed to strengthen his resistance to any and all physical moves by hardening his outer steel plates. Moments later, Beautifly fluttered weakly to the ground, out cold.

Now it was two on one. Beldum had lost perhaps half of their health, but nonetheless was in fighting condition. As for Dancer, she hadn't even fought yet. Makuhita, on the other hand, had about half of his strength remaining too. But with as much natural strength as he had, it wasn't saying a lot that he had lost only half of it. Three quarters would have been much more preferable.

"Makuhita, finish it off using Arm Thrust!" Taryn called out in a bit of desperation as her final Pokemon came out. It had been a while since a battle had raged this far out of her control. Normally anyone that dared to stand in her way had been obliterated by now. But even though this girl that had named herself Alpha had raw talent, her skills and strategy were severely lacking. She wasn't battling with her head, and hopefully that would be enough to enable Taryn to win.

Makuhita rushed forward, even as Sapphire called for another Iron Defense. Her luck held out, Beldum was able to raise their defenses even more. But before they could dodge it the Makuhita was upon them, slamming his palms down onto their body as the Fighting Type's arms thrusted forward.

"Beldum, fire off a Zen Headbutt!" If Beldum could smirk at their trainer's words, they would have. But as they began to power up the super effective attack, the paralysis flared to life and forced them to stop. Sensing this, Sapphire frowned.

"Alright then, switch over to Iron Head." For some reason the Steel Type was able to follow through with this order, dodging another blow from Makuhita and careening into the Pokemon's head. Makuhita was dazed, but Beldum was on their final breaths. One more Arm Thrust, one that Beldum tried to dodge but failed to as the paralysis affected him again, and they were down on the field, unconscious.

It was now one on one as Sapphire recalled Beldum, thanking them for their hard work much as she had thanked her other teammates. Dancer was up, her lowest leveled Pokemon. One hit from the Makuhita would probably be enough to faint her. If it was any consolation, however, Makuhita didn't look good. His breaths were coming in short pants, and he appeared to be a little unsteady.

It wasn't like she could do anything else. Pulling out Dancer's Pokeball, she released the Psychic and Fairy type onto the field. Taryn almost burst out laughing when she was the low leveled Pokemon, but then thought better of it. After all, she had been a bit incredulous seeing a Beldum as one of Alpha's choices, and that Beldum knew moves that the species was normally incapable of learning. Perhaps this Ralts was stronger than she looked.

"Dancer, use Double Team."

"Makuhita, Force Palm attack now!"

Makuhita charged forward, while Dancer closed her eyes and focused. Suddenly white flashes filled the clearing, and there were four different Dancers in different places. Makuhita came to a stop, confused. Sapphire grinned.

"Again!"

Once more Dancer and all her copies began to multiply, and soon there were sixteen Dancers. One more brought the total up to thirty two, the maximum that Dancer could create at the time. Not bad for a level seven Ralts. Makuhita was getting confused as to which one was the proper target. Taryn appeared calm, but on the inside she was seething in frustration. She was not going to let cheap party tricks defeat her.

"Blow the fakes away with Whirlwind, Makuhita!" She barked. Makuhita smirked and began launching the attack, beginning to blow the doubles away.

"Quick Dancer, use Confusion while he's distracted!" Sapphire cried. Dancer began to focus her weak telekinetic powers on the Pokemon, sending a slight jolt of psychic energy throughout the Fighting Type's body. Makuhita paused in his attack, by this point having blown away half of the doubles. He resumed the Whirlwind, while Dancer let loose another jolt of energy. Makuhita grit his teeth - even though the attacks weren't powerful, he was dangerously close to fainting, perhaps two more would be enough to do him in - and forced the pain to the back of his mind. The Fighting type successfully managed to dispel all of the doubles, leaving the one that was closest to him remaining. There was the real Dancer.

"Finish this up with Force Palm." Taryn commanded, even as Alpha countered that with another Confusion. It was a gamble to be sure. Would the last attack be enough to faint the Makuhita?

Dancer poured all of her power into a final Confusion attack, striking Makuhita with everything she had in her. The Fighting type wasn't happy with his situation, but nonetheless forced his way through the attack to land a Force Palm on Dancer. He staggered backwards while the little Psychic and Fairy type cried out in pain. For a moment, no one moved.

Then Dancer and Makuhita toppled over, hitting the ground. They were both out cold. Taryn had a furious look on her face as she recalled Makuhita, while Sapphire ran over to Dancer and picked her up.

"You're going to be sorry you messed with Team Aqua today, Alpha." Taryn promised in a low voice that boiled with anger. "Eduardo, let's go. We have to report back to headquarters."

"Yes ma'am!" Abandoning the Devon Employee he ran over to the Captain's side. Together the two of them ran off into the trees. Straightening his tie and making sure the parts stored in his briefcase weren't broken, he walked over to Sapphire. The girl was still kneeling on the ground, her injured Pokemon held protectively.

"Excuse me, miss." He said rather hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

"...I lost…"

"I beg your pardon?" The Employee tilted his head to the side. Sapphire sighed and lifted her head to look him in the eyes, and the man was surprised to see that she had a fearful look on her face.

"Dancer fainted a split second before Makuhita did." She whispered. "I lost the battle."

* * *

 **And we are done! Sapphire has been handed her first defeat! So, what do you all think about this? You can leave any comments, constructive criticisms, compliments, questions, or outraged reactions in a review! Flames will be put out by Taryn's Beautifly by using Gust!**


	15. Arrival in Rustboro

**Chapter 15: Arrival in Rustboro**

 **Wowee, thank goodness for breaks from homework. I thought my brain was going to melt! A big thanks to ZeroZangetsu, and Lucky Narga for following or favoriting this fanfic. And a big thanks to Veraa2 for the PM'd review.**

 **AgitatedDog9288: Well, without spoiling too much or being very derogetary, right now Sapphire's battling style is very rudimentary with little to no strategy, much how a young kid would play Pokémon. So a loss is a good way to kind of wake her up a bit, take her down a few notches and make sure that she doesn't get too overconfident with all the easy wins she has had so far. And as for Team Aqua retreating, they didn't have any Pokémon able to battle with either, so retreating was the safe option. It's one of the whole "good in the short term, bad in the long term" scenarios. And thank you for the review, by the way.**

 **Please note, the character of Brook was created by The SignOfLibra, I just filled her out a bit based on what the owner left in a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own anything official!**

* * *

"Perhaps you should call your parents." The Devon Corp Employee, who had introduced himself as Tristan, suggested as he walked down the second half of Route 104 with the girl that called herself Alpha. "I know you're old enough to be on your Pokemon journey, but you should let them know that you were attacked by Team Aqua.

"No way." Alpha retorted angrily, her hand clenching into fists. "They didn't attack me, I stepped into that situation myself. And I'm not calling my parents."

"I understand you want to be independent." Tristan tried to pacify the girl. "But-"

"I'm not calling them. I'm not going to go crawling back to them because I lost a battle." Alpha knew it was rude to interrupt the man, but she didn't care. Tristan frowned, before looking at the girl. Understanding dawned in his eye.

"You're mad at your mother and father." He realized. Alpha gave a noncommittal shrug, and some kind of half laugh escaped from her mouth.

"Mad's not the proper word." She said. "I think that perhaps furious is a much more appropriate term."

"Why?"

"I'm not some ten year old brat, you know." Alpha scoffed. "I'm thirteen and a half. My overbearing mother refused to let me go on a journey when I turned ten, couldn't bear the thought of having me leave home. I was forced to watch all the younger kids, all of my friends, leave my hometown and go travel around the region, while I stayed at home. Do you know how humiliating it was, how much the kids teased me about not being able to travel like a normal trainer, and how much it hurt knowing that they were right and that in a few years they'd be off on their own journies while I'd spend another birthday at home? My mom turned me into the laughingstock of the city's children."

Her voice shook with both rage and pain in remembering those wretched times, and Tristan found himself feeling sorry for the girl.

"As for my father." Alpha spit out that word like it was one of the worst curses in the world. "He got to travel around for his job, training himself and his team. Any other kid would admire him as a trainer, look up to him, but I don't because if he had been home then I know mom would have let me leave. It's his fault that I was a joke to the other kids, just as much as it is my mother's. I hate them both, and there's a snowball's chance in Orre's desert that I'll go dragging myself back to them after a loss. I'm not going back to them."

"I had no idea." Tristan said awkwardly. Alpha shrugged, as if to say it didn't really matter. By now they had reached the outskirts of Rustboro City, and it was here that the two parted ways. Alpha was off to the Pokemon Center to get treatment for both her injured team and for her ankle, which had swollen up again during her hike through the forest. Tristan was heading for the Devon Corp's headquarters, where he would receive his next assignment. Despite her foolish anger, Tristan had taken a liking to the girl, and she had been rather brave in placing herself and her team in harm's way to protect him. Because of this, he invited her to come by the large building later to potentially meet the president of the corporation. Sapphire agreed to stop by at seven o'clock that night, and thus the two parted.

Nurse Joy was horrified when she saw the condition of the girl's team, and quickly whisked them away. Judging from the panicked expression on Chancey's face as the pink Pokemon took Sapphire's partners back into the treatment rooms they were going to be in there for quite some time.

Knowing that it would be best to let Nurse Joy have some peace, Sapphire instead walked over to one of the PCs available in the Pokemon Center. Turning it on, she began to try and figure out how to pull up her personal account so she could take Sword out for that promised adventure. But for the life of her she wasn't able to figure out how it worked. She was already in a bad mood regarding her loss, and this wasn't helping things. The girl was steadily growing more and more frustrated.

"Need some help?"

Sapphire glanced behind her to see a preppy looking girl with brown hair tied up in long twin tails that fell to about her waist. She wasn't particularly tall or short, but somewhere in the middle. Eyes that were bluer than Swampy peaked out from underneath her long sideswept bangs, and her skin had a light tan to it. There was a smile on her face, though it seemed to hold a hint of mischief. The newcomer wore jean shorts, a blue hoodie, and a blue and white hat.

She wasn't alone. Much like how Sapphire herself kept Swampy out as much as possible, this girl had a pink cat shaped Pokemon that was curled up on top of this stranger's hat.

"Skitty." The cat yawned.

"And what makes you think that I need some help?" Sapphire asked carefully.

"Oh, I have no idea what prompted that thought." The stranger proclaimed. "It couldn't possibly be the fact that you've been handling that poor PC as if it were a hunk of meat, it has to be something."

"Very funny." Sapphire snarled, her temper flaring at the sarcastic remark. "I bet if you listen really hard, you'll hear that there is a grand total of no one laughing."

"Well forgive me for trying to have a little bit of fun." The girl replied cheerily. "The name's Brook, and then this is my Skitty Zoe. I found her in Rusturf Tunnel a few weeks ago. Isn't she adorable?"

"She's a bit pink for my taste." Sapphire muttered under her breath.

"So, I take it you don't know how to access the Pokemon Storage System, huh?" Brook shoved Sapphire to the side and began typing away at the PC. "It's really simple, you just pull up this menu here, and then you go to this option, click on that, wait for it to load, and then just select the third option of the drop down menu."

It was fortunate that in her messing around with the PokeNav out on Route 104 that Sapphire had found out how to change her name to Alpha in the device, because the registered name popped up on the screen. Brook studied it a moment, a grin on her face.

"So, you're named Alpha, huh?" She said. "It's nice to meet you. So, you here in town for the gym challenge?"

"No, I'm not staying in Hoenn, I'm going to Johto." Sapphire saw no reason to hide her goal if it got this Brook character to leave her alone. Her hopes, however, were dashed as Brook's face lit up in a grin.

"I knew I recognized that accent! You're from Goldenrod City, aren't you!" She squealed. "I'm from Ecruteak City, you know, the one that's right to the north! Oh, it's so good to meet someone from back home."

Sapphire mostly tuned Brook out as the girl kept on gushing about how wonderful it was to run into another Johto native out here, and instead withdrew Sword's Pokeball. Choosing to just walk away from the hyperactive girl, she sighed in frustration as Brook chased after her.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Out." Sapphire replied shortly, having already developed an intense dislike for the girl. "By myself, with just one of my Pokemon for company. No one else."

"Oh, I hear you. So, where are we going?"

"We are not going anywhere." Sapphire snapped. "I, however, am."

"Well excuse me, princess." Brook retorted. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed today."

"If you're here for the gym challenge, shouldn't you be pestering the gym leader instead of me?" Sapphire asked.

"Nah, I already beat her." Brook proudly displayed the badge that was pinned to the band of her fedora. "One down, seven to go! It's gonna be epic beating the others."

"Go bug someone else." Sapphire eventually ordered. "I have things to do."

"Only if you promise me something."

"What?" At this point, Sapphire would have gone back to her parents if it meant getting away from the rather annoyingly cheerful and sarcastic Brook.

"Have a battle with me the next time we meet." Brook said.

"And pray tell, why do you want to have a battle with me?" Sapphire wondered.

"Look, I get it, I may seem like an annoying little ten year old, but I'm sixteen." Brook explained. "I had to help take care of my family's business for a few years while my mom was sick, so I didn't start my travels until I was thirteen, but if there's one thing I've learned it's how to tell at a glance who's a strong trainer. You're an angry kid, but I can tell that you're good at Pokemon battles, and I want to see that strength first hand the next time we meet."

"...whatever…" With that, Sapphire stalked off, a bit unnerved as to how easily Brook had been able to read her. Brook, for her part, let out a whoop of delight at the prospect of battling Alpha. It would be a good one, that thing was certain. And Brook was going to ensure that it would end in her own victory.

* * *

 **Finished! So, what do you all think? Let me know by leaving any and all comments, compliments, or constructive criticisms in a review! Brook's Skitty will use some random move via Assist to take care of any and all flames!**


	16. Rusturf Tunnel

**Chapter 16: Rusturf Tunnel**

 **Aw, no new reviews, follows, or favorites to speak of. Oh well.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official! Don't sue me, I'm broke.**

* * *

Sword was ecstatic as trainer and Pokemon walked down the road that led to Rusturf Tunnel. She had seen May and Brendan exit the Pokemart as she had been heading towards the Pokemon Center. They were talking about there being some kind of Gym in the town, and from the looks of it they both were going to challenge it once they got a few more Pokemon. Thankfully, though, it sounded as if they were going to be heading for Route 104 again to do their training and capturing, meaning that Sapphire herself was safe for the time being.

Nonetheless she had flicked the hood of her jacket up as a precaution, and hidden the necklace that her father had given her on one of the rare occasions that he had been home. It was a chunk of sapphire, a perfect fit for the girl as it was both her name and her birthstone. She had hung it on a silver chain and had worn it ever since. Those had been the good days, back when she was six and had not a care in the world. As Sapphire's anger towards her parents began to fester and pollute her mind she had debated taking it off and selling it. But old habits died hard, and the rather unique looking gem continued to hang in its proper place around her neck.

They had battled a few wild Pokemon, as well as several trainers. Sword was quickly getting strong, just as strong as the rest of her team. Already he had mastered Confusion and Double Team, and even learned how to use Teleport. That had come in handy, as the wild Pokemon were strong and several times Sapphire had been forced to have Sword teleport them away from danger, or use it to get back to the city to stop by the Pokemart to buy some basic supplies to replenish their stock. All of the difficult battles were worth it, though, as Sword finally hit level 11 and began to perfect Disarming Voice.

"Your sister is going to have a lot of catching up to do." Sapphire murmured as Sword took out one of the many Nincada the bug catcher she was battling had. Sword grinned. His sister had always been the stronger of the two Ralts - Sword had hatched a bit prematurely, hence why he was so small and somewhat sickly - and it was nice to be ahead for once. Plus this time he'd be able to help Dancer perfect some attacks, not the other way around.

The duo continued on down Route 116, eventually reaching their goal. The huge mountain range that cut part of Hoenn off from the rest of the region loomed in front of them. A large hole had been drilled into the rather imposing rocky face, and it was this hole that Sapphire and Sword entered.

Rusturf Tunnel was abandoned, save for a few wild Wishmurs and Skittys that the duo saw. Human life was simply gone from the manmade passageway, and eventually the smooth walls present in the beginning of the tunnel transitioned into ones that were a bit chunkier, as if the rocks had been removed with a pickaxe or a hammer and chisel.

Sword suddenly flinched, and Sapphire glanced down at the little Pokemon in concern. Something had startled him, and as Sapphire glanced around the cave she suddenly felt her nerves go on edge. Something wasn't right, not with this oppressive atmosphere. Without thinking the girl sniffed the air a few times, before realizing that it was hopeless trying to detect anything with a weak human nose...wait a second.

"Where did that thought come from?" Sapphire wondered aloud as she shook her head to clear it. Sword shrugged glancing up at his trainer. He was just as confused as to why the girl was acting a bit like a Pokemon. Logically he knew that there shouldn't have been any way for the girl to sense that things weren't right, and yet she was just as unnerved as he was.

"Well, no use in debating it." Sapphire murmured eventually. "Let's go investigate."

"Ra!" Sword agreed wholeheartedly with his friend, and together the two began to walk even deeper into the cave, the girl unconsciously picking up her pace slightly. Rounding a corner, she was surprised to see the Aqua Grunt from Petalburg Forest, the one that had tried to rob Tristan. What was his name again? Oh yes, it was Eduardo. He wasn't alone, as there was a very scared looking Wingull next to him.

"I finally got the parts from that employee!" Eduardo said to himself, glee in his voice. "Captain Taryn will be so proud of me! Promotion here I come!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Sapphire replied coldly. Eduardo's head snapped around so fast that he almost got whiplash, and his eyes were as round as dinner plates when he caught sight of the girl.

"You!" He cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Sapphire.

"Yes, me." She sighed. "I suppose you know how things are going to work. You can hand over the briefcase and the Wingull, or I'll make you."

"No way! These are going straight to Captain Taryn." Eduardo snapped, pulling out his Pokeball and releasing Poochyena. The wolf pup looked to be much stronger now, and wasted no time darting forward in a vicious Bite attack. Sapphire dove out of the way, while Sword barely dodged it.

"Quick, use Double Team!" Sapphire shouted, and soon multiple copies of Sword surrounded the Poochyena. He had a frustrated look on his face, but listened to his trainers orders when Eduardo called for a Sand Attack. The wolf pup began to kick up immense amounts of the powdery substance that ripped through the doubles, though Sword cleverly used a short range Teleport to dodge it.

"Okay, now what?" Sapphire murmured to herself as she called for three more Double Teams in quick succession. By the third time, however, Eduardo had wised up to her trick, and ordered his Poochyena to use Odor Sleuth. Sapphire groaned aloud when she heard him call for that. There went her chance of wearing him out using Double Team. Odor Sleuth would increase Poochyena's ability to detect Sword's presence, and sure enough she was forced to have Sword use Teleport to dodge several Bite attacks.

This was bad. Sword was a bit weaker than Poochyena, and his Psychic type attributes meant that he was a bit weaker to Dark type moves, even though his secondary Fairy type lessened the damage. To make matters worse Eduardo's only Pokemon managed to hit Sword with a Sand Attack, lowering his accuracy.

Sapphire was racking her brains, trying to think. Confusion wouldn't affect Poochynea, she knew that for a fact. Teleport and Double Team dealt no damage naturally, meaning that the battle was going on in a continuous loop with only one possible outcome: another loss on her part.

No, she refused to accept that. Sensing his trainer's distress, Sword glanced backwards at his trainer, his horns flashing for a moment. Sapphire closed her eyes tightly, trying to think. And then suddenly it hit her, and she felt like a fool for not recognizing sooner that Confusion wasn't Sword's only attack. He knew another one as well, Disarming Voice. Sapphire wasn't certain of the typing attached to the move, and if it was a Psychic type attack they were doomed. But it was worth a shot.

"Sword, use Disarming Voice!" She called, noticing that Eduardo paled slightly. That was a good sign. As Poochyena drew closer to try and land a blow, Sword opened his mouth and let out a rather loud wail. It wasn't a sad cry, more akin to the meowing of a Meowth than an Exploud using Hyper Voice. Nonetheless Poochyena whimpered and staggered backwards, falling to the ground with his paws over his ears.

"C'mon, Poochyena, ignore it and use Howl!" Eduardo ordered. It was a war of noise as Poochyena climbed to his feet and threw back his head, letting out the longest and loudest Howl he could muster up. It drowned out Sword's own attack, and the little Pokemon wisely retreated a few feet using Teleport.

"Use Bite!" Poochyena rushed forward, clamping down on Sword's arm. Sword cried out, but cleverly turned it into another super effective Disarming Voice. Poochyena yowled in pain, inadvertently letting go of Sword's arm. Sword continued to let loose with the attack, pouring everything he had into the Fairy type move.

Poor Poochyena was incapable of withstanding the sonic assault, and toppled over onto the tunnel's floor. He made no more to rise, even as Sword stopped his cry. Eduardo had a furious look on his face, which only increased as Sapphire held out her hand expectantly. With a sigh, knowing that he had no choice, he handed over the briefcase, and the Wingull cawed loudly in his ear before hopping over to stand by Sapphire.

"This isn't over, small fry." Eduardo threatened before scurrying out of the tunnel. Sapphire frowned before looking over at Sword. Her partner was not in good condition, and was breathing quite heavily. The Bite attack had done a lot of damage.

"Well, I guess this settles it." Sapphire murmured. "We're just going to have to get stronger."

* * *

 **And with two run ins with Team Aqua, Sapphire's starting to realize that this isn't going to be as easy as she thought it would be.**

 **So, what do you all think? Leave any comments, compliments, or constructive criticisms in a review. Eduardo's Poochyena will use Sand Attack to put out any flames!**


	17. The Devon Corporation

**Chapter 17: The Devon Corporation**

 **No new follows or favorites yet, but on the plus side this story has exactly 1,500 views! And I have a review!**

 **AgitatedDog9288: Yeah, Sapphire sure hates them. And yes, I agree it is unhealthy, but let's be honest here. How many times have we been mad at our own parents for things, large or small, and instead of letting things go we just let that anger fester? Sapphire is just the kind of person that has trouble letting negative things go, be it a loss or anger. I tend to be the same way - If I get an A on a test in one class and then bomb another one in my next class I'll quickly forget about the A, but when I have another test I'll cram like crazy because I can only remember the bad grade. Dancer doesn't know Teleport. It's a bit confusing, since Sapphire has two Ralts. Dancer is the female, normal colored one, and is about level seven. Dancer's also in the Pokémon Center because she was KO'd in the fight against Taryn. The Ralts that is currently with Sapphire is Sword, the shiny male one, who is about level 11. I suppose Sword could teleport her back, but after a fight like that Sapphire decided to let him rest up a bit.**

 **Disclaimer: I got a bunch of Pokémon Plushies for Christmas. Does that count? No? Oh well, I guess that means that I don't own anything official!**

 **Happy New Year everyone!**

* * *

"Well well well, someone's in a bad mood." Shelly said as Taryn walked into the briefing room, a black scowl on her face. The Captain was in a foul mood, having not only battled to a draw with Alpha but also having gotten a report from Eduardo. Apparently Alpha had found him in Rusturf Tunnel with the Devon Corporation parts that they had been ordered to steal, as well as that old man's Wingull that they had swiped from the cottage on Route 104. To make a very long story short, they had battled and Eduardo had lost. "Did someone fail her mission, perhaps?"

"Save it, Shelly, I'm not interested in hearing you lecture me." Taryn snapped. "Besides, you weren't exactly successful in raiding Proffessor Birch's lab."

Shelly pouted slightly as Taryn slouched into her chair. The third Team Aqua Admin, an extremely buff man named Matt, laughed.

"Ah, she's got you there, Shelly." He said in a good natured tone, causing Taryn to smirk as Shelly's face turned a lovely shade of purple.

Their various emotions, however, quickly faded as the door slid open and their leader walked in. His name was Archie, and though he was not as heavily muscled as Matt he nonetheless cut quite the imposing figure in his bandanna, pants, boots, and trench coat. A gold anchor with a keystone set in the center of it hung from his neck. As one the three admins snapped to attention, though they relaxed just as quickly when Archie acknowledged their presence.

"So, what are your statuses regarding the missions I assigned you?" He eventually asked.

"Professor Birch woke up while I was trying to steal the starter Pokemon." Shelly muttered in distaste when she realized that the other two weren't going to speak up. "I'm planning on trying again in a few days."

"I found a lead on the location of both Latios and Latias, but I need more time to pursue it." Matt added sheepishly. "I'm supposed to meet my source later today."

"And what about you, Taryn?" Archie asked, rubbing his temples as if it would prevent the growing sense of frustration that plagued his brain.

"...Sorry, I ran into a problem." Taryn muttered.

"And do tell, what problem was that?" Archie inquired, disappointed in all three of his most promising recruits.

"A girl that called herself Alpha." Taryn replied, clenching her hands into fists. "She came out of nowhere and beat Eduardo in a battle, and then we fought to a draw. She's no ordinary trainer, that's for certain."

"Why do you say that?" Matt wondered aloud.

"She has a Poochyena that knows Fire Fang." Taryn had a scowl on her face. "A Sneasel that almost managed to take down my Makuhita, and then a shiny Beldum that somehow knows Iron Head, Iron Defense, and Zen Headbutt. Not only that, I just received a report from Eduardo. Apparently she also has a shiny Ralts."

"And she managed to tie with you?" Shelly said incredulously. Much to her chagrin, Taryn had no choice but to nod once, acknowledging her near defeat. Archie frowned.

"We'll have to keep tabs on that one." He decided. "Matt, I want you to pursue that lead. Capturing Latios and Latias are of the utmost importance to our plan. Shelly, I'm reassigning you.I want you to take care of our business in Fallarbor Town, and then meet me at Mount Chimney. Taryn, I want you to go investigate the ruins that we heard about on Dewford Island. After that you will be rendevous with me in Slateport, and then continue on to the Weather Institute after we have dealt with things there. Any questions?"

"No sir!" Three voices rang out. Archie smiled.

"Then let's not waste any time." He said. "The sooner we expand the sea, the better this world will be."

* * *

Sapphire sighed as she walked into the Pokemon Center once more, waiting by the counter. Nurse Joy was there, and thankfully Brendan and May were nowhere in sight.

"Can I help you?" The pink haired lady requested as the loner came to a stop in front of the counter.

"I was hoping to check on the status of my Pokemon." Sapphire replied, giving the nurse her false name. Nurse Joy quickly pulled up the records, and adopted a somewhat sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry, Alpha, but your Pokemon probably won't be completely recovered until tomorrow." She said. Sapphire sighed, but had expected an answer like that. Truth to be told, she was lucky it was only taking a couple of days rather than a few weeks, which is how long the girl had feared it would take.

"Okay, thank you." She said before taking a deep breath. She had had a rather crazy idea on her way back to the city, and even now she couldn't believe that she was going to follow through with it. It was ridiculous, to be certain, but if the girl kept on running into Team Aqua she had to get stronger. "I was wondering if I could register for the gym challenge here."

"Certainly." Nurse Joy replied with a smile, pulling something up on the computer. The process only took a few moments - Sapphire just had to input her name, age, and a few other things before the process was finalized. The head nurse of the Pokemon Center handed over a small pamphlet with information about the challenges and a badge case, as well as a trainer card that displayed the name of Alpha on it. "You're all set to go. Good luck!"

"Thanks." Sapphire replied curtly before stowing the items in her bag and walking out the door.

* * *

The girl walked around the industrial city for a while, taking note of the location of the Pokemon Gym. According to the sign, the leader Roxanne was a user of Rock Types. That was good information to have, she'd be able to plan her team accordingly. Wind would have to sit this one out, but Swampy and Shade would be quite useful in this challenge.

She had to duck down a side alley to avoid Brendan and May as they came walking out of the gym, badges held in hand. They looked rather proud of themselves, and their partner Pokemon were beaming with pride. So, they too were taking the gym challenge. As if it wasn't risky enough already. Now Sapphire had to worry about running into those two brats as well.

Luckily for her, they vanished in the opposite direction. Sapphire heaved a sigh of relief before continuing on her walk, eventually bumping into someone she recognized. Wingull cawed loudly, almost as if he were laughing at her.

"Hello, Tristan." She said to the older man. He was looking rather panicked, as if he had misplaced something, and jumped a few feet when the girl spoke to him. Recovering his wits, he quickly greeted the girl. Sensing that something was wrong, Alpha asked him what was on his mind.

"Was it really that obvious?" Tristan wondered with a sheepish grin. "That one Team Aqua member from the forest came up behind me while I was heading for the Devon Corp and robbed me of some very important parts that I was to take back to headquarters. The owner will be extremely upset that I've lost them."

"They wouldn't happen to be in here, would they?" Sapphire inquired, holding up the briefcase that she had taken from Eduardo. Tristan's eyes lit up and he smiled, reaching out to grab the parts.

"Yes it is!" He cried. "I don't know where you managed to find them, but I'm glad that you got them back!" Sapphire shrugged, as if to say that it hadn't been a chore. But Tristan insisted on thanking her somehow, and gave her a couple of Great Balls before asking if perhaps she would like the tour of the Devon Corp building. Seeing no harm in it, Sapphire agreed.

The building was rather interesting - hundreds of computer cubicles with friendly workers were littered on the second and third floors. The first floor had a reception area, where a couple of middle aged women were happily chatting with some of the other visitors. In the basement were labs where the company developed and tested their newest products, but for confidentiality reasons Sapphire wasn't allowed down there.

Finally after about 20 minutes of looking around, Tristan led her to the top floor of the Devon Corporation. Requesting that she wait by the stairs for a few minutes, he then walked out of view. Sapphire was left to stand awkwardly in the room which, from what she could see of it, was like a study or an office. A few minutes later, Tristan came back.

"Our president wishes to speak to you." He informed the girl. "I can't tell you how grateful I am for what you have done for our company, and I'm certain that our president feels the same way. If you'll come with me, please."

He lead the girl over to a desk, where a distinguished looking man in his mid to late forties sat. He wore a reserved blue suit with a red tie, and his hair was colored a slate gray.

"I'm Mr. Stone, the president of the Devon Corporation." He said by way of greeting. "Tristan here tells me that we have quite a bit to thank you for, Alpha."

"I didn't do anything special." Alpha replied evenly. "Anyone else would have done the same thing that I did."

"Nonsense, you helped out my staff not just once but twice." Mr. Stone said. "I simply don't know how to thank you."

"I don't need to be thanked." Sapphire really didn't want anything, particularly if it meant that her picture would get out on the news and such. "Tristan gave me a Beldum already, that's plenty of thanks.

"In that case, there is one other reason why I wanted to speak to you." Mr. Stone said. "Now, I want you to know that I am a president that you can trust. I'd never be so arrogant as to ask for a favor without repaying it."

"Do you want me to do something for you?" Sapphire inquired. President Stone nodded, before sliding something across his desk. That something turned out to be a letter.

"I want to ask you to deliver this letter to a man named Steven. The last I heard of him he was in Dewford. There's an old man by the name of Mr. Briney who lives out on Route 104 who should be willing to take you to the island. And if I'm not mistaken, that is his Wingull you have there. I'm certain he'd be happy to have him back.. And I know that you wish to have no reward, but please, at least take this for your services."

With that the man reached into one of his desk drawers and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to the girl, telling her it was her payment. Sapphire looked like she was going to protest, but then thought better of it as she felt the cash through the envelope. It would greatly replenish her depleted stores.

"Thank you very much, sir." She said as she stowed the two envelopes into her bag. "I'll be sure to deliver the letter. You can count on me, sir."

* * *

 **And we are done! Next chapter will be Alpha's first gym battle. Who's excited, because I know I am! But perhaps some feedback might help me write. if you agree with that statement, then you can leave any constructive criticisms, compliments, or comments in a review! Peeko will be putting out any and all flames by using Water Gun!**


	18. VS Rustboro Gym Leader Roxanne

**Chapter 18: VS Rustboro Gym Leader Roxanne**

 **Sorry for the delay, people! School kind of decided to hand me my gluteus maximus on a silver platter over the course of the past couple weeks. We're talking tests, quizzes, calc finals, and staying up until 2AM in the morning working on homework. Thank goodness I've got the week off.**

 **A big thanks to GarionRiva, Hulk Davidson1010, TrAfAlGaRIAxSgUrL27,dkj224, lovelyflower5, and JACCGirls-Squad for following and/or favoriting this fanfic!**

 **GarionRiva: Thanks so much for the review. I'm glad you're enjoying the fanfic so far, and thanks for forgiving me on Sapphire catching a bunch of Pokémon right at the start. It's going to slow down a bit now, though. I mean, she'll catch a few more, but right now these seven are her main players. At least, that's the plan. I don't know, I might slip one in soon, I'm not certain. As for the battles, I'm happy you think that they are good. I hope you enjoy the one in this next chapter!**

 **Anonymous (guest review): Glad you love it, and thanks for the support!**

 **TheSignOfLibra: Before I forget, no I have not forgotten about checking out your fanfic, I've just been too busy to literally do anything else besides sleep, go to school, and do homework. Don't put yourself down about your writing, though - different people have different strengths. I'm certain that you are an extremely talented writer in your own ways; that's what makes every writer unique. And I'm glad you approve of Brook's usage, she'll be making another appearance in the near future!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

* * *

The next day Sapphire found herself standing outside of the Rustboro Gym, anxiously running a hand over her Pokeballs. Roxanne, the leader, used Rock types, and Sapphire had structured her team accordingly. Swampy and Beldum would be her main fighters, and Shade would pop out in case they needed some support. Also on her were the twin Ralts and Shadow, though they were more there as last resorts. She had done some training with Dancer the night before after her return from the Devon Corps, and the tiny Pokemon now had an identical move set to her brother

Taking a deep breath, and with a reassuring glance at Shade who was perched on her shoulder, the girl opened the door and walked into the large cavernous gym.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Sapphire muttered before steeling her nerves and opening her mouth to call out. "Hello! I'm here for a gym battle!"

Silence permeated the air for a moment, before a young lady walked out of a side room, stopping once she caught sight of Sapphire.

"Hello." She said brightly. "So, you're a challenger, hm? I'm Roxanne, the leader of the gym. Who might you be?"

"I go by the name of Alpha." Sapphire proclaimed, gesturing to the Sneasel on her shoulder. "And this is my partner, Shade. We would like to have a gym battle."

"And so you shall." Roxanne replied as the lights came up, revealing that they were standing on the battlefield. Sapphire had unknowingly stopped in the challenger's box, and as Roxanne moved to stand in the gym leader's position she reached for a Pokeball. Tossing it high in the air she revealed her first Pokemon, a Geodude. Sapphire wasted no time in retaliating by calling out Swampy. A referee took his position on the sidelines and called for the battle to begin.

"Alright then, Geodude, use Defense Curl!" Roxanne ordered as her Pokemon curled up in on himself, increasing his defenses.

"Go on the attack, Swampy! Use Mud-slap!" Sapphire commanded in response. Swampy nodded and sprayed a bit of water on the ground to create some mud before kicking it up into the air.

"Geodude, use Rock Tomb to create a barrier." Geodude slammed his hands down onto the ground, creating a small rock fall that piled up in front of him, shielding the Rock and Ground type from the mud. Not all of it was blocked, however, and Roxanne's Pokemon took some minor damage. Roxanne frowned and called for a Defense Curl, which Geodude faithfully executed.

"Water Gun!" Sapphire was hoping that the super effective attack would be enough to take care of the Geodude.

"Not so fast, Alpha." Roxanne chastized. "Geodude, use your Tackle attack to dodge it, and then use Rock Tomb!"

In an impressive display of speed that was unusual of his species, Geodude handily slipped out of the way of the incoming blast of pressurized water, before generating another set of boulders. These ones fell around Swampy, damaging him slightly and lowering his speed. Geodude than rushed in with another Tackle, though Sapphire quickly called her partner back before it could connect.

"I've got to lower that Geodude's speed somehow." She murmured before glancing down at Shade. "You're up, buddy."

"Sneasel." Shade smirked and darted out onto the field. Sapphire wasted no time in calling for an Icy Wind. Geodude just barely managed to get out of the miniature blizzard's path, but he was unable to completely dodge the second one. The icy cold gale licked one of his hands, forming small ice crystals.

Geodude shuddered a bit before retaliating with Rock Tomb, dropping the boulders on top of Sneasel. Sapphire flinched as a few of the larger ones connecting, one of them trapping Shade's foot.

"Again!" Roxanne shouted. Sapphire frowned, knowing that Shade would be unable to dodge another hit. This would require some planning.

"Shade, use Icy Wind to freeze the boulders and then break them apart with Scratch!" She called. Shade nodded before unleashing another chilly gust, the ice crystals penetrating the boulders and making them weak and brittle. Several fine sScratch attacks later and the tiny shards of rock littered the ground surrounding the Dark and Ice type. Shade repeated the process with the boulder trapping his foot, freeing himself just in time to summersault out of the way of an incoming Tackle.

Roxanne called for six more in quick succession, and Shade dodged them all, darting in occasionally to whittle away tiny bits of Geodude's strength with Scratch. Eventually, however, Shade was backed into a corner, and there was no place for him to run.

"Rock Tomb again, Geodude." Roxanne's partner began to create the rocks that spelled doom Shade. Sapphire frowned, calling for a Feint Attack. While it was not super effective, the move was guaranteed to land, and the weasel dealt a powerful blow to Roxanne's first Pokemon before the boulders were dropped right on top of him.

"Sneasel is unable to battle." The referee pronounced. "Geodude wins. Challenger, select your next Pokemon."

"Nice work, Shade." Sapphire praised her fallen partner as she recalled him. She placed the Pokeball back in its spot on her wrist band before pulling off the solid red one. "Beldum, let's go."

Roxanne raised an eyebrow when she saw the shiny Pokemon appear, before gasping as they suddenly rushed forward in response to Alpha's call for an Iron Head. The Steel type move connected with a solid thunk, and Geodude was down. Roxanne recalled him after the referee's judgement, appraising the Beldum with a keen eye.

"That's a pretty good Pokemon you've got there." She admitted, a smile on her face. "But I'm not done yet. Nosepass, come on out!"

This new Pokemon looked like a cartoonish drawing of ancient statues, complete with a bright red nose. Sapphire frowned, thinking that he looked tough and that it might be better to have Swampy deal some damage first. Having made up her mind, she held out Beldum's Pokeball.

"Beldum, return for now." She called as the red laser that pulled a Pokemon back into its Pokeball darted through the air to strike Beldum. To her great shock, however, Beldum was not sucked into the beam and pulled back into the Pokeball, the red light shattering against their body. Beldum turned back to look at her, a sad note in their single red eye.

"Bel, beldum." They said, shaking their head. Alpha frowned.

"What's going on?" She demanded.

"Allow me to enlighten you." Roxanne's voice took on a scholarly tone as she spoke. "My Nosepass's ability is called Magnet Pull. It prevents Steel type Pokemon from being switched out. And to make things a bit more interesting, I think I'll have my Nosepass use Thunder Wave!"

Alpha paled, flashing back to the clearing in Petalburg Woods with Alpha and her Beautifly. Thunder Wave had the same effect as Stun Spore, leaving the victim paralyzed and unable to move. Her orders to dodge the attack came too late, and a weak electrical jolt froze the Steel and Psychic type's muscles.

"Oh great, not again." Sapphire murmured to herself, calling for an Iron Defense. Beldum tried, but the paralysis kicked in and froze them in place. The girl flinched as her Pokemon continued to strain against the unnatural immobility that plagued them, her breath starting to come in a few short gasps. It was just like with Taryn - her Pokemon were trying their best for her, and she could only watch as they suffered.

No, no, she couldn't think about that, not right now. Her head wasn't in the game as Roxanne called for a Rock Tomb. It wasn't super effective, but it slowed her already paralyzed Beldum even further. The Gym Leader followed up on her advantage by calling for a Tackle, which displayed her Nosepass's speed - or rather a lack of speed. By Sapphire's estimates her Beldum was sitll faster.

"Use Hold Back!" She yelled in desperation, and Beldum managed to rush forward to land a blow, taking the Tackle head on. Her Pokemon had not used their full strength to attack, which meant that Nosepass took little damage.

"Retaliate with Rock Tomb!" Roxanne commanded, and more boulders rained down to trap Beldum.

"Keep on using Hold Back!" Alpha shouted in response. "Don't let up!"

"If that's the way you want to play, then I'll just have my Nosepass keep on using Rock Tomb." Roxanne replied smugly. Sapphire grit her teeth as she watched the attacks clash, the weak Hold Back against the stronger Rock Tomb. Beldum put up and admirable fight, and managed to sap away much of Nosepass's strength before a third and final Rock Tomb sent them crashing to the ground.

"Beldum is unable to battle." The referee said after a moment. "Challenger, please select your next Pokemon."

"I'll admit, that Beldum of yours really threw me for a loop." Roxanne admitted as Alpha recalled her partner. "I didn't know that Beldum could learn anything other than Take Down. Congratulations, you've actually been able to teach me something. Not many challengers can say that."

"Mine's a special one." Sapphire said with a shrug before tossing out her next Pokemon. Swampy returned to the field, knowing that it was a risk. Swampy had sustained some damage fighting off Geodude, and it probably wouldn't take much to faint him. But the type advantage was worth it.

"Water Gun!"

"Use Rock Tomb to contain it!"

Nosepass was a bit quicker on the drawn, dropping more boulders around Swampy. Sadly, the force of the blue Pokemon's Water Gun was sufficient to punch a hole through straight through the rocky prison, soaking Nosepass.

"Get in close and use Tackle!"

"If that's the way you want to play, then fine!" Sapphire replied to Roxanne's orders. "Swampy, you use Tackle as well."

Crash after crash was heard as the two Pokemon collided, occasionally retreating a bit to use Rock Tomb or Mud-Slap. As the battle wore on, both Nosepass and Swampy steadily grew more and more exhausted until finally they were both on their last gasps.

"Quick Nosepass, fire off a Thunder Wave!" Roxanne cried, seizing an opening. Sapphire mentally cursed as Nosepass quickly managed to paralyze Swampy, the Mudkip's muscles seizing up in response to the electrical jolt.

"You're a good battler, Alpha, but this ends here." Roxanne said confidently. "Nosepass, finish this off wit-huh?"

She trailed off as Swampy began to be covered in a blinding bright light, the white form changing slowly at first, but then growing quicker and quicker.

"No way." Sapphire murmured as the light faded. Swampy was no longer as cute and cuddly as he was when he was a Mudkip. He was a bit taller, perhaps up to her waist, and looked to be a bit more heavily muscled now.

"Marshtomp." He growled. Seeing that both Roxanne and Nosepass were still shocked at the sudden evolution, Sapphire quickly took her chance.

"Swampy, Water Gun attack now!" She yelled. Swampy nodded and opened his mouth, launching a blast of pressurized water at Nosepass. It was stronger now that Swampy had evolved into Marshtomp, and the activation of his ability Torrent had also added to the move's power. Nosepass didn't have a chance. Roxanne's order to dodge had come just a split second too late, and the super effective attack hit her Pokemon dead on. Nosepass fell over with a loud clunk, out cold.

"Nosepass is unable to battle!" The referee called. "Marshtomp wins. And the victory goes to the challenger Alpha."

Roxanne sighed as she recalled Nosepass, while Alpha walked over to Swampy.

"That was a good battle." She said as she joined the winner in the center of the arena. "You've more than earned this Stone Badge."

"Thanks." Alpha couldn't help but allow a small, proud smile to cross her face as she slid the metal badge into her case. She and her Pokemon had done it. They had earned their first badge.

* * *

 **So, Sapphire has earned her first badge? What do you all think? Leave any comments, constructive criticisms, comments, and questions in a review! Flames will be doused by Swampy's Water Gun!**


	19. Onwards to Dewford Town

**Chapter 19: Onwards to Dewford Town**

 **Argh, I hate writing fillers so much! And school keeping me away from my writing, and writer's block happening, and my friend dying suddenly! I hate them all!**

 **Yeah, so, long story short, this chapter gave me horrible writer's block, and I had a ton of homework, and this really awesome friend of mine just died very suddenly. She was so young, and I miss her a lot, but I'm trying to be happy and live a good life because she wouldn't have wanted me to get all depressed over her passing.**

 **So yeah, life's just been really hard. Sorry you all had to wait so long for another chapter.**

 **Lynxgoddess: Thanks for the review. To be honest, I'm going to be interested in seeing how Alpha evolves as well, since I literally have almost nothing planned out for her character development. Like, I have main events and such, but the little things are all up in the air.**

 **Eon The Zoroark: Double or nothing says that since you said that I will totally find some way to make sure Swampy evolves before the battle with Norman. I'm just kidding, by the way, I actually don't have a specific time frame for any of the evolutions, just a general where it will happen. Like, Sword's is definitely going to happen before the final battle with Wally, but I'm not certain when. I guess it'll happen when it makes sense. Thanks for the review.**

 **And a big thanks to everyone who has followed/favorited my fic since the publication of the last chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't have a job people, my spare money is going towards Switch games, do you think I have the rights to Pokémon? Because I don't. Please don't sue, I want to play the Switch so badly and I can't if I'm in jail!**

* * *

"Are you certain that it was her?" Norman asked as he glanced over at the picture of his family that was sitting on his desk. His daughter looked so happy, a smile on her face. It had been taken a while before she had grown bitter over her lack of a Pokemon journey.

"Absolutely." On the screen, Roxanne nodded. "She called herself Alpha, and had a Sneasel named Shade with her. Do you want me to notify the police? From what I heard, she's heading out to Dewford Island. They can intercept her there."

"No, let her keep traveling." Norman replied. "She's been denied her journey for a while, it's only fair that she gets to finish this one. I'll ask the other gym leaders to not mention anything about knowing who she is. She'll have to come to my gym eventually, and when she does I'll deal with her then."

"But Norman, she ran away from home. Her mother must be worried sick!" Roxanne protested. "Not only that, I had a few challengers the day before that mentioned something about a girl named Alpha stealing a Mudkip from Professor Birch's lab, and your daughter had one."

"Interesting." Norman frowned slightly. "I don't know how she got a Mudkip, but I know that my daughter would not steal."

"But-"

"Roxanne." Norman's words stopped her cold. "I know I'm asking a lot of you and the other gym leaders in not going to the police, but please let me try and handle this first. I give you my word that if something else changes, I'll bring the authorities into this."

For a long moment, neither of the two spoke. Finally, Roxanne sighed.

"I don't like this, but I'll listen to you." She eventually said.

* * *

Sapphire knocked on the door of the small windswept cottage on the shores of the lower part of Route 104. She had found a shortcut through Petalburg Woods that involved clambering down a series of tiny ledges. The Wingull was still perched on top of her head, and Shade was in his Pokeball after Sapphire had caught him eyeing the bird with what could only be distaste - either that or hunger. Regardless, Sapphire hadn't wanted to take a chance, and her partner was now grumpily sitting in his Pokeball.

The girl did not have long to wait, for the door flew open to reveal an old man. He had a gray beard and mustache, with a bald head and kind eyes. The man had on a red shirt and tan shorts, and the smile on his face seemed to grow as he caught sight of the Flying type atop Sapphire's head.

"Peeko! Oh, I thought I would never see you again." He cried in happiness. Peeko cawed happily and hopped off of Sapphire's head and flew over to his trainer. The minute he vacated his perch, Shade popped out of his Pokeball.

"Sneasel." He groused, glaring at the Wingull. It was obvious he did not like having his spot taken.

"Oh, quit your whining." Sapphire scolded. Shade responded with a flat look that showed he wasn't happy.

"My Peeko owes her life an' freedom to you, lass!" Sapphire put her frustration aside for the moment and refocused her attention on the ancient man in front of her. "They call me Mr. Briney. And you are?"

"I am known by the name of Alpha." She replied as the man invited her into the cottage.

"Alpha? Ah, then I sincerely thank you for rescuing my darling Peeko." Mr. Briney said. "Aye, I do say that we owe you one, lassie."

"If that's the case, then can I ask a favor of you?" Alpha inquired, pulling out the letter addressed to Steven Stone. "The president of the Devon Corporation asked me to deliver this letter to his son in Dewford. I was hoping that you would take me."

"Aye, he sent one of his employees out here the other day saying that someone with a letter bound for Dewford would require my services." Mr Briney nodded.

"So, will you take me?" Alpha glanced at the doorway, disguising her growing impatience. She hated to push the older man; but the girl did not like being so close to her father's home. Despite the fact that no one had showed up to pull her back to Littleroot Town, Sapphire had no doubt that her father had seen her. The less time she spent hanging out in the Petalburg area, the better.

"Certainly, that'd be no problem at all. You've come to the right man! Shall we hoist sail for Dewford at once, or do you have anything else you want to do around her?"

"I'd like to leave now, if that's alright." Sapphire asked.

"Alrighty then. Anchors away Peeko! We're setting sail my darling!"

* * *

Sapphire inhaled a deep breath of the clean, salty sea air as the boat transferred from Route 105 to Route 106. She could see a large island in the distance, which meant that they had to be getting close to their destination. Flocks of Wingull cawed overhead, and Peeko added his cry to theirs. Shade was still eyeing the birds with distaste.

"How long do you think it will be until we get there, Mr. Briney?" She asked, yelling to be heard over the noise of the motor.

"Not too long, lass." Came the quick reply. "I believe we shall be landing in about twenty minutes. You know what you're going to do when you get there?"

"Yep." Sapphire smirked. She was going to do a training session with her Pokemon, then challenge the gym the next day. After that, she'd go to the cavern nearby, where Steven apparently had been heading too. She was looking forward to another challenge, despite her apprehension at allowing the gym leaders to catch glimpses of her. They weren't fools, sooner or later one of them would either mention her to her father or realize that she was the same girl that had run away from Littleroot Town.

Ah, but the challenge was to good of an opportunity to pass up. Mr. Briney had informed the trainer that Brawly, the leader of the Dewford Gym, favored Fighting types, and Sapphire had structured her team accordingly. Shade wouldn't battle, and Beldum was her last resort Pokemon. Swampy could be called in to fight if the going got a tough, or if she needed to buy time to heal her Pokemon. The main fighters for this round would be Wind, Sword, and Dancer. Shadow, unfortunately, would have to sit this round out, but Sapphire wasn't going to be foolish enough to pit a Dark type against a Fighting type.

Sighing, the girl went back to looking out over the ocean. She had another big challenge coming up, and the girl couldn't wait for the boat to finally reach their destination so she could get to practicing.

* * *

 **So, what do you all think? Leave any comments, compliments, inquiries, or constructive criticism in a review! Flames shall be put out by a Gyrados using Hydro Pump!**


	20. VS Dewford Gym Leader Brawly

**I'm back my peeps! Sorry for the delay in updating, this little thing called life got in the way. :(**

 **I'm not joking. To summarize, since my last update I have had to deal with the musical, writer's block, a veritable army of illness, and then if that wasn't enough my mom told me I wasn't allowed to write fanfiction until my AP exams were over - something about her worrying that I wouldn't study enough or something like that, and of course the writer's block cleared up the second day of my little moratorium on fanfiction - and then I kid you not, if that wasn't enough, I had to break my pinky.**

 **Now I'm sure you're all wondering, _Rebel, what on earth does breaking a tiny little pinky have to do with you not being able to type fanfiction? You hardly even need the finger._ Oh, don't get me started. First off, it's a bad break. As in, there were two separate bone halves breaks. And it was crooked - see, I was in gym when I broke it, so I was playing the goalie position for Team Handball (it's like Ultimate Frisbee) and the ball bent my pinky backwards and sideways simultaneously, so it just clean broke. Let the record stand that I did not cry when it happened. I swore, a lot, and apologized for all of them. It hurt, okay, like, really, really, really, almost hysterically laughing because it hurt so much but at the same time it was so revoltingly funny. Like I looked down and half of me was like. _Huh, I guess that just happened,_ and the other half was like _Oh bleepity bleepity bleep bleep bleep._ I don't normally use language like that, but my mom said that given the extenuating circumstances, it was okay.**

 **Fun fact, that whole thing about not feeling it right away - it's true. It didn't hurt for a whole thirty seconds. But then it hurt so much I got nauseous. That wasn't fun.**

 **But anyway, it's a bad break - the break is on the first section of the pinky, and it goes pretty much diagonally almost completely across it. I ended up having surgery - two screws, I can set off metal detectors now! - and my entire right hand (and dominant hand) was then put in a cast.**

 **So yeah, typing one handed with your nondominant hand is hard. And thus that is the totally epic and absolutely way to long story of where I've been these past few months!**

 **If that was too long for you folks in the back, suffice it to say my dominant hand was in a cast due to a broken finger. Pinky fingers are more trouble then they're worth.**

 **But on to more interesting things.**

 **the hidden bird: Ask and ye shall receive!**

 **Lynxgoddess: Thank you for the condolences; I'm doing a lot better now. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you like this one as well.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

* * *

"Man, and I thought that Littleroot Town was tiny." Sapphire muttered to herself as she swung her legs over the side of the boat and onto the tiny wooden dock. Dewford town was downright dinky in comparison. There wasn't a Pokemart in sight, to start off, although there was a Pokemon Center in the middle of town. A huge building that had to be the gym was down closer to the beach and a short walk away from rocky cliffs. There were a few small houses, and a large structure that seemed to be some sort of public hall. As Sapphire didn't want to socialize with people, she chose to ignore them. Instead, she made a beeline for the gym.

To her surprise, an actual gym greeted her when she opened the doors. Various fitness equipment was spread out along the walls, with a huge battlefield in the center. A man with blue hair was lifting weights with a Machop, though he quickly set them aside when he noticed that he had a visitor.

"How's it going?" He asked, walking over to shake Sapphire's hand. "The name's Brawly, the leader of the Dewford Gym."

"I'm known as Alpha." Sapphire replied cooly. "I came to see if I could battle you."

"Alpha, huh?" Brawly looked at her for a moment before a look of understanding dawned on his face. "Oh, I get it. You're that girl Roxanne was telling me about. She said you ripped through her team like it was nothing."

"I wouldn't go that far…" Alpha muttered, mentally panicking. If Roxanne was telling the other gym leaders about her, then there was a very good chance that her father knew what she was doing. Not that she expected him to care, although in all honesty the last thing she wanted was to get a severe lecture from her father.

Actually, if she got caught by her father, getting a lecture would be the least of her worries.

"Well, I suppose we'll just see whether or not you live up to that reputation." Brawly said with a good natured smile. "You ready right now, or do you want to hold off for a bit?"

"Let's go for it." Alpha scowled, hand resting on Wind's Pokeball. The little bird wanted a chance to redeem himself, and Sapphire saw no reason to not give him a chance.

"Sounds good to me. Machop, let's go!" With that, the gym leader's first Pokemon dropped the weights he was holding and ran over to stand on the battlefield. Fortunately Sapphire was familiar with this one - some of the Kanto trainers would bring Machops into the city every once in a great while, and she had been able to watch some battles the species was in before.

"Come on out, Wind." Wind cawed as he was released, flapping his wings and soaring high into the air before suddenly dive bombing his opponent as his trainer called for a Wing Attack. Machop quickly dodged it, proving that it was a rather fast opponent.

"If you think that using a Pokemon with a type advantage on my team is going to work, then you're not going to get very far in this battle." Brawly said with a somewhat smug tone of voice. "Machop, use Bulk Up followed by Leer."

"Go on the attack, Wind!" Alpha commanded in response. "Use Peck!"

Wind let a smirk cross his beak before diving down towards Machop, who had flexed his muscles a few times before pinning Wind with a ferocious glare. Wind flinched a bit at the intensity of the facial expression, but nonetheless swooped in, preparing to attack. Brawly smirked.

"Catch it and use Seismic Toss!"

Nimbly Machop dodged the blow, revealing an impressive speed that was rather rare in that Pokemon's particular species. Taillow's attack missed, and then Machop laid a hold of the bird, gripping the Flying type in such a way as to ensure that Wind would not be able to land any successful attack or break free. With a powerful jump Machop soared high into the air. The pair spiraled back down towards the battlefield, on a collision course with the hard-packed earth.

At the last possible moment, Machop hurled Wind into the ground. The Taillow hit it hard, while Machop landed safely.

"Just because you have the type advantage doesn't mean anything." Brawly said confidently as Wind got up, shaking dirt of off his feathers. "Not only are my Fighting type Pokemon strong, they're just as fast as any Flying type."

"Yeah? So what?" Alpha wondered, a bit snarkily. "I know abusing type advantages won't enable me to win every match. Just because I'm young doesn't mean that I am dumb."

"I wasn't saying that." Brawly pointed out.

"I know." Alpha grinned. "Just like I know that I'm going to win this match. Wind, hit Machop with a Wing Attack."

"Machop, dodge it!" Unlike the first time that Wind tried to attack, this time the blue bird managed to hit Machop. Despite the Pokemon's increased defenses, Machop still took a sizeable amount of damage. Type matchups may not guarantee a battle's outcome, but they certainly did help make one possible ending more likely than the other.

Machop wisely retreated and began to use Bulk Up again. Alpha didn't like the prospect of Brawly continuing to power up his Pokemon, and asked Wind to keep on attacking. Wind did so, alternating between using Peck and Wing Attack, while Machop dodged them all, throwing in a bit of Leer attacks here and there as well.

Finally, Wind flew too close to Machop, cawing a bit in anger as Machop hit it with a Karate Chop. But it was here that Machop's downfall came about. Since he had elected to let Wind get close enough to attack him, Wind was therefore close enough to attack Machop as well.

"Use Wing Attack again, Wind!" Wind cawed and slammed into Machop with his now glowing wings. Somehow the Pokemon was still standing, but a quick Tackle attack was enough to send him toppling down to the ground.

"Bummer." Brawly said as he ran a hand through his hair, recalling Machop. "Ah well, you did your best, Machop, and that's the most important thing."

Alpha called Wind back to her side as well, holding out her arm for her Pokemon to land on.

"Nice work." She praised him. "How're you doing? Are you up for more, or do you want me to have one of the twins to take over for now?"

Wind gave her a look that seemed to ask if the girl was kidding, before flying back out onto the field. Alpha nodded, before looking back up at Brawly.

"Alright then." She said. "Just don't push yourself too much."

"You may have gotten us once, but you won't get us again." Brawly declared, before tossing another Pokeball into the air. "Makuhita, let's go!"

Makuhita was a tan Fighting type Pokemon, looking a bit like a little sumo wrestler.

"I'm sticking with Wind for now." Alpha informed Brawly when the bluenette asked if she wanted to make a switch. "He wants to battle, and I do not wish to deny him any chances he wishes to have."

"Okay then." Brawly said with a shrug. "I can respect that. But I don't think he's going to last long. Makuhita, use Arm Thrust!"

* * *

 **And so it begins. For those of you who are wondering about when part 2 will arrive, fear not. It's already half typed, and it should be up by Monday. (thank goodness for four-day weekends.)**

 **And now I have a question for you. Since I'm hoping to novelize almost all of the Pokémon games eventually, I'm opening a poll on my profile. Here, you'll be given a choice for which region and/or game series you wish to see novelized next. For example, if you want to see one of the Kanto games novelized, vote for the Kanto region. If you want to see one of the Pokémon Ranger games novelized, vote for Pokémon Ranger. This poll will be open until this story is about halfway done, so somewhere around the fourth or fifth gym. You have two votes, so don't worry about agonizing over having to chose between your two favorite series. Once this poll is closed, a more specific one will be opened asking which game from the winning region/series you want to see novelized, and it will be closed at the conclusion of this fanfic.**

 **So, in other news, please leave any comments, questions, concerns, or constructive criticisms in a review. Brawly's Makuhita will use Sand Attack to put out any flames.**


	21. VS Dewford Leader Brawly (part 2)

**Chapter 21: VS Dewford Leader Brawly (part 2)**

 **No reviews yet...sigh, I know I was gone for a while, but I'm not leaving this story in the dust.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official.**

* * *

Makuhita rushed forward, pounding Wind with several weak blows before the bird could react. With all of the damage that had been done to Wind in the previous battle, this was enough to faint him. With a weak caw, the bird plummeted down to the sand and lay there sprawled out in a rather undignified manner.

Sapphire was a bit startled by this - after all, Arm Thrust wasn't that powerful, and it was not that effective on a Flying type - but on the outside she kept a calm exterior. Quickly she recalled Wind into the safety of his Pokeball, whispering a few words of thanks before selecting her next Pokemon.

"Dancer, I need your assistance." She called as she released the little Pokemon onto the field. Dancer let out a soft cry before focusing her attention on Makuhita, who was looking at his opponent with a tiny bit of apprehension. Even though he was at a higher level than Dancer, Makuhita couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of apprehension. It was to be expected. As a Fairy and a Psychic type, Dancer was a Fighting type's worst nightmare.

"Use Disarming Voice!" Alpha commanded. The girl was taking a risk, since Dancer was the frailest of all of her Pokemon. But the Feeling Pokemon needed to get some training in. While Sapphire was not cruel, she also did not believe in coddling her Pokemon too much.

Makuhita's face scrunched up in pain as Dancer let out a wail, but nonetheless used Bulk Up to raise his defenses.

"Keep going, Dancer!" Alpha cheered, happy her strategy was working. If Makuhita got in close that would mean bad news for Dancer, type advantage or not. But as long as the two of them engaged Makuhita from a distance, the win would easily become theirs.

"Makuhita, hit them with Knock Off!" Makuhita grimaced before rushing forward, quickly closing the gap between himself and Dancer. The attack connected, and Dancer stumbled backwards. Even though it only normally would have dealt moderate damage, the difference in levels made it so that Dancer ended up taking a lot more damage than Sapphire predicted. Perhaps the attack had also been a critical hit, and that was why it had seemed so powerful.

"Good work, Dancer!" Sapphire held out the Pokemon's Pokeball and recalled her faithful partner. She was not a moment too soon, for just as Dancer vanished Makuhita struck the sand where she had been standing with another Knock Off.

"Makuhita." Makuhita grunted, a peeved look on his face. Alpha smiled slightly, before reaching for Sword's Pokeball.

"Wow, a shiny Ralts." Brawly raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sight of the rare Pokemon. "That's one I've never seen before in this gym."

"Yeah, well you're going to remember him quite well." Alpha smirked. "Sword, use Confusion!"

"Makuhita, Sand Attack!" Makuhita grinned and began to kick up sand, the fine particles that flew into the air. Sword got several of them in his eyes, and his psychic attack missed the mark by several feet. Makuhita laughed before using Bulk Up.

"As long as we use Sand Attack a few times, you won't be able to hit us." Brawly said confidently before calling for another use of the Ground type attack. Makuhita obliged, and soon Sword could hardly see.

"Stay calm, Sword, and use Disarming Voice!" Alpha ordered. Brawly grinned, only for a shocked expression to replace that grin as the super effective Fairy type move hit Makuhita dead on.

"Disarming Voice always hits its target, regardless of how the Pokemon's stats have changed." Alpha explained, grinning a bit at the surprise coating the Gym Leader's face.

"Ah, yeah, I guess I forgot about that." Brawly said with a sheepish look on his face. "I guess that means that I can quit messing around. Hiding in the dark's not really my style of battling, anyway. Makuhita, keep on using Bulk Up!"

"Don't let up, Sword! Give them your best Disarming Voice!"

Makuhita grit his teeth and kept on flexing his muscles, steadily building up his offensive and defensive capabilities. Sword kept on wailing, his voice assaulting his unseen foe from a distance. This continued on for a few moments - Makuhita charging up power, while steadily taking damage from Sword's attack. Finally, Brawly decided that he had had enough hiding.

"Alright then, Makuhita, finish them off with Knock Off!" He called. Makuhita smirked and began running towards Sword, who was still crying out. Alpha ordered him to dodge the attack, but due to the sand in his eyes Sword accidentally lept right towards the advancing Fighting type, and was promptly hit with the Dark type attack. Despite the fact that Sword's Fairy type attributes lessened the damage, he was still barely standing.

But despite all of this, Sword grinned. And Sapphire smirked as well. They both knew what just had happened. Makuhita may have landed a devastating blow, but he had also given away his position. And even though Makuhita hadn't taken nearly as much damage as Sword had, he still wasn't looking too hot.

"Finish this battle with Confusion!" Sapphire yelled. Sword hurled the psychic energy towards Makuhita, striking Brawly's Pokemon with the attack. Confusion may have had a weak base power, but Sword was rather strong for a Ralts, and he had managed to hit one of Makuhita's weak points. It was a critical hit, and down Makuhita went.

Now, no one could never say that the orange Pokemon didn't try to continue, and spent a good minute trying to pick himself up off of the floor. But in the end the damage was too much for the Gym Leader's partner, and with a grunt he fell back down onto the battlefield, completely knocked out.

"Aw man." Brawly let out a slight laugh as he recalled his partner. "That was crazy. Nice work, Makuhita, you deserve a good rest."

"Thank you so much, Sword." Alpha also recalled her Pokemon, a smile on her face.

"I'm telling you, I've ridden some pretty big waves in my time as a gym leader, but the one I just tried to best had to have been the biggest one I've ever seen." Brawly said as he walked over to shake Sapphire's hand. "Not even Professor Birch's two kids were as hard to fight as you were. This here's the Knuckle Badge, you've more than earned it."

"Thank you." Sapphire accepted the fist-shaped badge and put it in her badge case.

"And this here is just a slight gift from me. It's a Technical Machine that contains the move Bulk Up. It's incredibly useful for stat boosting." Saying this, Brawly handed the advanced machinery to Sapphire. "So, what're you off to next?"

"I need to deliver a letter to a guy named Steven Stone from his father." Sapphire explained. "I heard he was in Dewford Town. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

"Yeah, he's probably in Granite Cave. It's pretty famous among stone collectors." Brawly explained. "Just go up past the town hall to the beach, and turn right. You can't miss it."

* * *

 **And another battle down. So, Sapphire has two badges. I would like to personally reassure people right now that she's not going to win every gym battle. While I personally never lost a gym battle in my playthrough of Alpha Sapphire (fighting the twins in Emerald was a totally different story), Sapphire will lose at least one gym. And before anyone makes any speculations, She could lose more than one, or she could only lose one, and I haven't decided which one it is yet, so don't go crazy with the guessing.**

 **Other than that, I can't think of anything else yet to say. So, as always, leave any comments, questions, compliments, and constructive criticisms in a review. Brawly will surf right over any and all flames to put them out. And don't forget to vote in that poll on my profile!**


	22. Granite Cave

**Chapter 22: Granite Cave**

 **Guess what? I'm back with another chapter. Before that, though, has anyone seen the direct, or the news that came out at E3? In all honesty Pokken Tournament DX and having Gold and Silver on the eshop really don't excite me that much, but I am looking forward to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. And the whole core series Pokemon game that is in development for the Switch! That has got me pumped!**

 **And if anyone at Game Freak or The Pokemon Company is reading this, Gen 4 remakes will be given a loving home! (Sorry, it's just that Pearl was my first Pokemon game, and I want my nostalgia moment!)**

 **the hidden bird: Sure thing, I'd be happy to leave a list. Sadly, Sapphire isn't going to be getting a Swablu. See, I'm going to end up novelizing all of the Hoenn games eventually, and I want to spread all the really cool Pokemon out. So when I was assigning Pokemon, I actually assigned Swablu and Altaria to the protagonist of my Omega Ruby fanfic, kind of like how I assigned the event Beldum to Sapphire. Sorry about that.**

 **Verra2: Yeah, beasting through all of the gyms just isn't at all realistic in the slightest. I hope you like this chapter, too!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

* * *

Sapphire smiled as she strolled along the beach, her Pokemon eagerly running about. Shade was perched on her shoulder, while Shadow and Swampy frolicked in the water right at the edge of the shore. Dancer and Sword were walking along the sand extremely carefully, while overhead Wind cawed as he sailed on the breeze. Beldum had been stored in the PC system to be retrieved at a later date.

Her Pokemon were doing quite well, in terms of training. All of them, save for Shade, were around level fifteen. Sapphire's first partner was pushing level twenty at the very least. The Dark and Ice type would be a big help in Granite Cave. The Johto native may not have been familiar with the local Pokemon, but in her experience caves almost always had Rock and Ground type Pokemon, as well as the ever present and perpetually annoying Zubat population. They would be no match for Sneasel.

Speaking of caves, it would appear that Sapphire had finally arrived. On the outside Granite Cave was unassuming, just a large rocky hill with a ragged entrance cut into it. A little bit of natural light illuminated the cave, but thick darkness was visible even from the entrance.

Sapphire shrugged before pulling out her flashlight and walking into the darkness, clicking the device on. A pale beam of watery yellow light flashed onto a wall barely illuminating the surrounding area.

"Wind, Dancer, Sword, return." With that order half of her team vanished. Swampy, Shadow, and Shade remained out in the open. The latter two of the trio had impeccable vision in the dark, and would be a big help in navigating the caverns, while the former's strength would be needed in battle.

"The three of you stay close to me." Sapphire said before walking towards the wall.

"Hey, you."

Sapphire jumped a good foot and a half in the air at the sudden words, while her partners tensed. A hiker emerged from the darkness, hands in the air to show that he was unarmed and not about to attack.

"Don't do that!" Sapphire snapped, still a bit terrified from his sudden appearance.

"Alright, alright, just chill." The hiker replied. "I was only just going to warn you that it gets awfully dark ahead, and that you might want to bring a Pokemon that knows Flash. It'll be tough trying to explore without it."

"Great." Sapphire muttered to herself. She didn't have a partner that knew that attack, and she also didn't have any way to teach it to one of her Pokemon. What was she supposed to do, run around in the dark trying to find Steven?

"Well, for us Hikers, helping out those that we meet on our travels is our motto." The hiker continued to speak, a bit oblivious to the impatient, frustrated look that adorned Sapphire's face. "Here you go, I'll pass this on to you. Teach that TM Flash to a Pokemon and use it. It'll light up even the inky darkness of caves. Enjoy your spelunking."

With that the man handed Sapphire a Technical Machine and walked back off into the depths of the cave. Sapphire watched him go before letting out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in.

"Well that was certainly unexpected." She muttered before putting the gift away in her bag. Right now she didn't need any extra light, but later on in the cave it would probably be useful.

She would have continued on into the depths of this natural tomb, but a soft glow attracted her attention. It wasn't coming from the entrance, this was from deeper in the cave. Curious she walked towards it, casting the beam of her flashlight around to take a look at her surroundings. There appeared to be rudimentary pictures on the wall, though whether they were painted on or carved into the rocks was unknown to the girl. The closer she got to the illuminated room, the more there were.

As the runaway walked through the door, she could not help but gasp. The room was spacious, almost cavernous when it came to the sheer size of the place, and there was a set of stairs leading towards what looked to be some kind of stage or alter. The entire place was lit up with work lights powered by a generator, revealing some sort of massive mural on the back wall.

It depicted what appeared to be some sort of monster calling forth a giant rainstorm. Sapphire stared at it, a bit enthralled, before letting out a slight screech in shock as the sapphire pendant her father had given her lit up with a brilliant blue glow. The glow quickly faded, but it left Sapphire a bit unsettled, and her Pokemon anxiously crowded around her.

"What was that?" Sapphire murmured aloud to herself.

"Hm? Oh, it seems I have some company."

Sapphire glanced up to see a tall young man in an elegant pinstripe suit watching her. He had apparently been looking at the mural, but in her shock the girl had missed seeing him. His piercing steely grey eyes matched his hair, and a reassuring smile was on his face.

"Ah, another person here to see the murals?" He mused. "I must say they are quite the sight. It is hard to believe that in the ancient world, their primal forms once held this much power. What terrible strength the super-ancient Pokemon must have had. But this appearance here, it seems somehow different from Mega Evolution. Hmm...It seems my questions will not be answered here today."

"Okay." Sapphire was pretty confident the guy had lost his marbles, and chose not to ask what these super-ancient Pokemon was, or how he knew about Mega Evolution. Sure, Sapphire had heard of the phenomenon, but it was extremely rare in Johto, and she didn't really know anything about it.

"Oh, my apologies." The man said smoothly with a slight laugh. "I got lost in my thoughts. Who are you?"

"I have no name other than that of Alpha." The girl replied, the look on her face showing that she was not pleased with his rudeness.

"Ah, I see." The man said in return. "It's a pleasure, Alpha. My name is Steven. I'm interested in rare stones, so I travel here and there. Today my journey brought me here, but what about you?"

"Well, if you're the guy I'm looking for, then my job just got a whole lot easier." Sapphire muttered before pulling out the letter that Mr. Stone had entrusted her with. "I came here looking for a man named Steven Stone. I ran into his father when I was in Rustboro and he asked me to give him this letter."

"Oh? A letter for me?" Steven took it and began to open the letter before realizing that perhaps it would be better to do that later. "Why thank you. It must have been some trouble to track me down. I must repay you in some way. Let me see…"

"Um, that's really not necessary." Sapphire really just wanted to get out of the cave. She had delivered the letter, which meant she wanted to move on to Slateport.

"I will give you this Technical Machine. It contains my favorite move, Steel Wing. Please accept it."

Now this intrigued Sapphire. She knew that Wind could learn Steel Wing, and that would be rather helpful when it came to countering Ice type Pokemon. So, despite her earlier protests, she tucked the device away into her bag, before making a move to leave.

"Ah, if you don't mind me asking, do you feel anything in particular when you look up at this wall?" Steven's words caused her to come to a halt, and with a barely audible groan she trudged back over to his side, craning her head to take in the entire mural.

"I don't know." She answered with a shrug. "But then again, art's never really been my thing. I suppose it does make me worry as to what would happen if something like that creature got unleashed on the world, but I doubt that's going to happen. What does this old cave painting depict, anyway?"

"A primal world, lost thousands of years in the past." Steven replied. "A Legendary Pokemon of tremendous power became humanity's greatest threat. The terror aroused by that power is clearly depicted here in this painting."

"Not all power is terrible, though." Sapphire pointed out. "If it were, then we would fear Pokemon rather than befriend them."

"Yes, that is true." Steven agreed, glancing down at the Pokemon that were by the girl's side. "I can tell that your partners are clearly quite capable fighters. Looking at you all together, I think that you have in you what it takes to become a Pokemon League Champion."

"Sorry, but that's not my goal." Sapphire shook her head.

"Then if you don't mind me asking, what is it?" That was Steven's next question.

"Quite honestly? I'm traveling to Slateport so I can get on a boat to Johto." That was all Sapphire was willing to divulge, but even what she said may have been enough to reveal her true identity. Thankfully, Steven did not seem to connect her to the news about Norman's runaway daughter.

"A pity. Hoenn could use good trainers like you." Steven sounded disappointed.

"Good trainer? Hah, she had so much trouble tying with me it wasn't even funny."

Shadow let out a growl, and Shade hissed in annoyance while Sapphire stiffened at the insult. Turning around, she could see none other than Taryn standing behind her and Steven, a scowl on her face.

"Just my luck." Taryn continued as she walked forward. "I get assigned to come out here and investigate these murals, only to run into Mrs. Wimpy Goody-two-shoes. Oh well, I still need to get some old fashioned revenge in for what you did to me back in Petalburg Woods."

"You didn't do too well yourself." Sapphire retorted hotly, before a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Steven did not look too pleased to see a member of Team Aqua, if the distaste on his face was anything to go by.

"If you are here for a battle, then why not battle Alpha and I?" He suggested, a cold undertone to his voice.

"If you're willing to only use a maximum of four altogether, then fine by me." Taryn replied angrily, reaching for two Pokeballs. "I just think that you're going to regret messing with me."

* * *

 **And we are done. As requested, here is the list of Sapphire's Pokemon.**

 **Shade (Sneasel)- Scratch, Quick Attack, Feint Attack, Icy Wind**

 **Swampy (Marshtomp) - Mud Shot, Water Gun, Mud-Slap, Tackle**

 **Shadow (Poochyena) - Tackle, Howl, Bite, Fire Fang**

 **Dancer (Ralts, female) - Growl, Disarming Voice, Confusion, Double Team**

 **Sword (Ralts, shiny male) - Growl, Disarming Voice, Confusion, Double Team**

 **Wind (Tailow) - Peck, Growl, Wing Attack, Quick Attack**

 **Beldum (shiny, in storage) - Iron Defense, Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, Hold Back**

 **So, what do all of you think? Be sure to leave reviews! Dancer and Sword shall put out any and all flames using their psychic powers.**


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